a&SBKR 
 

The Story and Philosophy 
 "of "Mormonism" 
 
 By JAMES E. TALMAGE 
 

 BANCROFT LIBRARY 
 
The 
 Story of "Mormonism" 
 
 AND 
 
 The Philosophy of 
 "Mormonism" 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES E. TALMAGE 
 
 D. Sc., F. R. S. E. 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE DESERET NEWS 
 
 SALT LAKE CITY 
 
 1914 
 
Copyright 1914 
 
 by 
 
 JOSEPH F. SMITH 
 
 Trustec-in-Trust for 
 
 the Church of Jesus Christ 
 
 of Latter-day Saints 
 
c, 
 OAST; 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE STORY OF "MORMONISM" as presented 
 in the following pages is a revised and recon- 
 structed version of lectures delivered by Dr. 
 James E. Talmage at the University of Mich- 
 igan, Cornell University, and elsewhere. The 
 "Story" first appeared in print as a lecture re- 
 port in the Improvement Era, and was after- 
 ward issued as a booklet from the office of the 
 Millennial Star, Liverpool. In 1910 it was 
 issued in a revised form by the Bureau of In- 
 formation at Salt Lake City, in which edition 
 the lecture style of direct address was changed 
 to the ordinary form of essay. The present or 
 third American edition has been revised and 
 amplified by the author. 
 
 The "Story" has been translated and 
 published abroad. Already versions have 
 appeared in Swedish, modern Greek, and 
 Russian. 
 
4 Preface. 
 
 The subject matter of THE PHILOSOPHY OF 
 "MORMONISM" was first presented as a lecture 
 delivered by Dr. Talmage before the Philo- 
 sophical Society of Denver. It appeared later 
 in the columns of the Improvement Era, and 
 translations have been published in pamphlet 
 form in the Danish and German languages. 
 
 The present publication of these two produc- 
 tions is made in response to a steady demand. 
 
 THE PUBLISHERS. 
 Salt Lake City, Utah, 
 
 March, 1914. 
 
The Story of "Mormonism. 
 
 I. 
 
 IN the minds of many, perhaps of the major- 
 ity of people, the scene of the "Mormon" 
 drama is laid almost entirely in Utah; indeed, 
 the terms "Mormon question" and "Utah 
 question" have been often used interchangeably. 
 True it is, that the development of "Mormon- 
 ism" is closely associated with the history of 
 the long-time Territory and present State of 
 Utah; but the origin of the system must be 
 sought in regions far distant from the present 
 gathering-place of the Latter-day Saints, and 
 at a period antedating the acquisition of Utah 
 as a part of our national domain. 
 
 The term "origin" is here used in its com- 
 monest application that of the first stages 
 apparent to ordinary observation the visible 
 birth of the system. But a long, long period 
 of preparation had led to this physical com- 
 ing forth of the "Mormon" religion, a period 
 marked by a multitude of historical events, 
 
The Story of "Mormonism. 3 
 
 some of them preceding by centuries the earthly 
 beginning of this modern system of prophetic 
 trust. The "Mormon" people regard the estab- 
 lishment of their Church as the culmination of 
 a great series of notable events. To them it is 
 the result of causes unnumbered that have op- 
 erated through ages of human history, and 
 they see in it the cause of many developments 
 yet to appear. This to them establishes an inti- 
 mate relationship between the events of their 
 own history and the prophecies of ancient 
 times. 
 
 In reading the earliest pages of "Mormon" 
 history, we are introduced to a man whose 
 name will ever be prominent in the story of 
 the Church the founder of the organization 
 by common usage of the term, the head of the 
 system as an earthly establishment one who 
 is accepted by the Church as an ambassador 
 specially commissioned of God to be the first 
 revelator of the latter-day dispensation. This 
 man is Joseph Smith, commonly known as 
 the "Mormon" prophet. Rarely indeed does 
 history present an organization, religious, so- 
 cial, or political, in which an individual holds 
 as conspicuous and in all ways as important 
 
Joseph Smith, the Prophet. 
 
 a place as does this man in the development 
 of "Mormonism." The earnest investigator, 
 the sincere truth-seeker, can ignore neither the 
 man nor his work; for the Church under con- 
 sideration has risen from the testimony sol- 
 emnly set forth and the startling declarations 
 made by this person, who, at the time of his 
 earliest announcements, was a farmer's boy in 
 the first half of his teens. If his claims to or- 
 dination under the hands of divinely com- 
 missioned messengers be fallacious, forming 
 as they form the foundation of the Church 
 organization, the superstructure cannot stand; 
 if, on the other hand, such declarations be true, 
 there is little cause to wonder at the phenom- 
 enally rapid rise and the surprising stability of 
 the edifice so begun. 
 
 Joseph Smith was born at Sharon, Vermont, 
 in December, 1805. He was the son of in- 
 dustrious parents, who possessed strong re- 
 ligious tendencies and tolerant natures. For 
 generations his ancestors had been laborers, 
 by occupation tillers of the soil; and though 
 comfortable circumstances had generally been 
 their lot, reverses and losses in the father's 
 house had brought the family to poverty; so 
 
8 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 that from his earliest days the lad Joseph was 
 made acquainted with the pleasures and pains 
 of hard work. He is described as having been 
 more than ordinarily studious for his years; 
 and when that powerful wave of religious agi- 
 tation and sectarian revival which character- 
 ized the first quarter of the last century, 
 reached the home of the Smiths, Joseph with 
 others of the family was profoundly affected. 
 The household became somewhat divided on 
 the subject of religion, and some of the mem- 
 bers identified themselves with the more pop- 
 ular sects; but Joseph, while favorably im- 
 pressed by the Methodists in comparison with 
 others, confesses that his mind was sorely 
 troubled over the contemplation of the strife 
 and tumult existing among the religious bodies ; 
 and he hesitated. He tried in vain to solve 
 the mystery presented to him in the warring 
 factions of what professed to be the Church of 
 Christ. Surely, thought he, these several 
 churches, opposed as they are to one another 
 on what appear to be the vital points of re- 
 ligion, cannot all be right. While puzzling 
 over this anomaly he chanced upon this verse 
 in the epistle of St. James: 
 
Joseph Smith, the Prophet. 
 
 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of 
 God, that giveth to all men liberally, and up- 
 braideth not; and it shall be given him/ f 
 
 In common with so many others, the earnest 
 youth found here within the scriptures, admo- 
 nition and counsel as directly applicable to his 
 case and circumstances as if the lines had been 
 addressed to him by name. A brief period of 
 hesitation, in which he shrank from the thought 
 that a mortal like himself, weak, youthful, and 
 unlearned, should approach the Creator with a 
 personal request, was followed by a humble and 
 contrite resolution to act upon the counsel of 
 the ancient apostle. The result, to which he 
 bore solemn record (testifying at first with 
 the simplicity and enthusiasm of youth, after- 
 ward confirming the declaration with man- 
 hood's increasing powers, and at last volun- 
 tarily sealing the testimony with his life's 
 blood,) proved most startling to the sectarian 
 world a world in which according to popular 
 belief no new revelation of truth was possible. 
 It is a surprising fact that while growth, pro- 
 gress, advancement, development of known 
 truths and the acquisition of new ones, charac- 
 terize every living science, the sectarian world 
 
10 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 has declared that nothing new must be expected 
 as direct revelation from God. 
 
 The testimony of this lad is, that in response 
 to his supplication, drawn forth by the admoni- 
 tion of an inspired apostle, he received a divine 
 ministration ; heavenly beings manifested them- 
 selves to him two, clothed in purity, and alike 
 in form and feature. Pointing to the other, 
 one said, "This is my beloved Son, hear Him." 
 In answer to the lad's prayer, the heavenly per- 
 sonage so designated informed Joseph that the 
 Spirit of God dwelt not with warring sects, 
 which, while professing a form of godliness, 
 denied the power thereof, and that he should 
 join none of them. Overjoyed at the glorious 
 manifestation thus granted unto him, the boy 
 prophet could not withhold from relatives and 
 acquaintances tidings of the heavenly vision. 
 From the ministers, who had been so energetic 
 in their efforts to convert the boy, he received, 
 to his surprise, abuse and ridicule. "Visions 
 and manifestations from God," said they, "are 
 of the past, and all such things ceased with the 
 apostles of old ; the canon of scripture is full ; 
 religion has reached its perfection in plan, and, 
 unlike all other systems contrived or accepted 
 
Early Opposition. 11 
 
 by human kind, is incapable of development or 
 growth. It is true God lives, but He cares not 
 for His children of modern times as He did for 
 those of ancient days; He has shut Himself 
 away from the people, closed the windows of 
 heaven, and has suspended all direct communi- 
 cation with the people of earth." 
 
 The persecution thus originating with those 
 who called themselves ministers of the gospel 
 of Christ spread throughout the community; 
 and the sects that before could not agree to- 
 gether nor abide in peace, became as one in 
 their efforts to oppose the youth who thus tes- 
 tified of facts, which though vehemently de- 
 nounced, produced an effect that alarmed them 
 the more. And such a spectacle has ofttimes 
 presented itself before the world men who 
 cannot tolerate one another in peace swear fidel- 
 ity and mutual support in strife with a common 
 opponent. The importance of this alleged rev- 
 elation from the heavens to the earth is such as 
 to demand attentive consideration. If a fact, 
 it is a full contradiction of the vague theories 
 that had been increasing and accumulating for 
 centuries, denying personality and parts to 
 Deity. 
 
12 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 In 1820, there lived one person who knew 
 that the word of the Creator, "Let us make man 
 in our own image, after our likeness," had a 
 meaning more than in metaphor. Joseph Smith, 
 the youthful prophet and revelator of the nine- 
 teenth century, knew that the Eternal Father 
 and the well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ, were in 
 form and stature like unto perfect men; and 
 that the human family was in very truth of 
 divine origin. But this wonderful vision was 
 not the only manifestation of heavenly power 
 and personality made to the young man, nor the 
 only incident of the kind destined to bring upon 
 him the fury of persecution. Sometime after 
 this visitation, which constituted him a living 
 witness of God unto men, and which demon- 
 strated the great fact that humanity is the child 
 of Deity, he was visited by an immortal per- 
 sonage who announced himself as Moroni, a 
 messenger sent from the presence of God. The 
 celestial visitor stated that through Joseph as 
 the earthly agent the Lord would accomplish a 
 great work, and that the boy would come to be 
 known by good and evil repute amongst all na- 
 tions. The angel then announced that an an- 
 cient record, engraven on plates of gold, lay 
 
The Message of Moroni. 13 
 
 hidden in a hill near by, which record gave a 
 history of the nations that had of old inhabited 
 the American continent, and an account of the 
 Savior's ministrations among them. He further 
 explained that with the plates were two sacred 
 stones, known as Urim and Thummim, by the 
 use of which the Lord would bring forth a 
 translation of the ancient record. Joseph 
 further testifies that he was told that if he re- 
 mained faithful to his trust and the confidence 
 reposed in him, he would some day receive the 
 record into his keeping, and be commissioned 
 and empowered to translate it. In due time 
 these promises were literally fulfilled, and the 
 modern version of these ancient writings was 
 given to the world. 
 
 The record proved to be an account of certain 
 colonies of immigrants to this hemisphere from 
 the east, who came several centuries before the 
 Christian era. The principal company was led 
 by one Lehi, described as a personage of some 
 importance and wealth, who had formerly lived 
 at Jerusalem in the reign of Zedekiah, and who 
 left his eastern home about 600 B. C. The book 
 tells of the journeyings across the water in ves- 
 sels constructed according to revealed plan, of 
 
14 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 the peoples' landing on the western shores of 
 South America probably somewhere in Chile, of 
 their prosperity and rapid growth amid the 
 bounteous elements of the new world, of the in- 
 crease of pride and consequent dissension ac- 
 companying the accumulation of material 
 wealth, and of the division of the people into 
 factions which became later two great nations 
 at enmity with one another. One part follow- 
 ing Nephi, the youngest and most gifted son of 
 Lehi, designated themselves Nephites; the other 
 faction, led by Laman, the elder and wicked 
 brother of Nephi, were known as Lamanites. 
 
 The Nephites lived in cities, some of which 
 attained great size and were distinguished by 
 great architectural beauty. Continually ad- 
 vancing northward, these people in time occu- 
 pied the greater part of the valleys of the Orin- 
 oco, the Amazon, and the Magdalena. During 
 the thousand years covered by the Nephite rec- 
 ord, the people crossed the Isthmus of Panama, 
 which is graphically described as a neck of land 
 but a day's journey from sea to sea, and suc- 
 cessively occupied extensive tracts in what is 
 now Mexico, the valley of the Mississippi, and 
 the Eastern States. It is not to be supposed 
 
The American Aborigines. 15 
 
 that these vast regions were all populated at any 
 one time by the Nephites ; the people were con- 
 tinually moving to escape the depredations of 
 their hereditary foes, the Lamanites ; and they 
 abandoned in turn all their cities established 
 along the course of migration. The unpreju- 
 diced student sees in the discoveries of the an- 
 cient and now forest-covered cities of Mexico, 
 Central America, Yucatan, and the northern 
 regions of South America, collateral testimony 
 having a bearing upon this history. 
 
 Before their more powerful foes, the Ne- 
 phites dwindled and fled ; until about the year 
 400 A. D. they were entirely annihilated after 
 a series of decisive battles, the last of which was 
 fought near the very hill, called Cumorah, in 
 the State of New York, where the hidden rec- 
 ord was subsequently revealed to Joseph Smith. 
 
 The Lamanites led a roving, aggressive life ; 
 kept few or no records, and soon lost the art of 
 history writing. They lived on the results of 
 the chase and by plunder, degenerating in habit 
 until they became typical progenitors of the 
 dark-skinned race, afterward discovered by 
 Columbus and named American Indians. 
 
 The last writer in the ancient record, and the 
 
16 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 one who hid away the plates in the hill Cu- 
 morah, was Moroni the same personage who 
 appeared as a resurrected being in the nine- 
 teenth century, a divinely appointed messenger 
 sent to reveal the depository of the sacred docu- 
 ments ; but the greater part of the plates since 
 translated had been engraved by the father of 
 Moroni, the Nephite prophet Mormon. This 
 man, at once warrior, prophet and historian, 
 had made a transcript and compilation of the 
 heterogeneous records that had accumulated 
 during the troubled history of the Nephite na- 
 tion; this compilation was named on the plates 
 'The Book of Mormon," which name has been 
 given to the modern translation a work that 
 has already made its way over most of the civil- 
 ized world. The translation and publication of 
 the Book of Mormon were marked by many 
 scenes of trouble and contention, but success 
 attended the undertaking, and the first edition 
 of the work appeared in print in 1830. 
 
 The question, "What is the Book of Mor- 
 mon?" a very pertinent one on the part of 
 every earnest student and investigator of this 
 phase of American history has been partly an- 
 swered already. The work has been derisively 
 
The Book of Mormon. 17 
 
 called the "Mormon Bible," a name that carries 
 with it the misrepresentation that in the faith 
 of this people the book takes the place of the 
 scriptural volume which is universally accepted 
 by Christian sects. No designation could be 
 more misleading, and in every way more 
 untruthful. The Latter-day Saints have 
 but one "Bible" and that the Holy Bible of 
 Christendom. They place it foremost amongst 
 the standard works of the Church; they accept 
 its admonitions and its doctrines, and accord 
 thereto a literal significance; it is to them, and 
 ever has been, the word of God, a compilation 
 made by human agency of works by various in- 
 spired writers ; they accept its teachings in ful- 
 ness, modifying the meaning in no wise, except 
 in the rare cas^s of undoubted mistranslation, 
 concerning which Biblical scholars of all faiths 
 differ and criticize ; and even in such cases their 
 reverence for the sacred letter renders them 
 even more conservative than the majority of 
 Bible commentators and critics in placing free 
 construction upon the text. The historical 
 part of the Jewish scriptures tells of the divine 
 dealings with the people of the eastern hemi- 
 sphere ; the Book of Mormon recounts the mer- 
 
18 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 cies and judgments of God, the inspired teach- 
 ings of His prophets, the rise and fall of His 
 people as organized communities on the western 
 continent. 
 
 The Latter-day Saints believe the coming 
 forth of the Book of Mormon to have been fore- 
 told in the Bible, as its destiny is prophesied of 
 within its own lids ; it is to the people the true 
 "stick of Ephraim" which Ezekiel declared 
 should become one with the "stick of Judah" 
 or the Bible. The peopk challenge the most 
 critical comparison between this record of the 
 west and the Holy Scriptures of the east, feeling 
 confident that no discrepancy exists- in letter or 
 spirit. As to the original characters in which 
 the record was engraved, copies were shown to 
 learned linguists of the day and pronounced 
 by them as closely resembling the Reformed 
 Egyptian writing. 
 
 Let us revert, however, to the facts of his- 
 tory concerning this new scripture, and the re- 
 ception accorded the printed volume. 
 
 The Book of Mormon was before the world ; 
 the Church circulated the work as freely as 
 possible. The true account of its origin was 
 rejected by the general public, who thus, as- 
 
The Spaulding Romance. 19 
 
 sumed the responsibility of explaining in some 
 plausible way the source of the record. Among 
 the many false theories propounded, perhaps 
 the most famous is the so-called Spaulding 
 story. Solomon Spaulding, a clergyman of 
 Amity, Pennsylvania, died in 1816. He wrote 
 a romance to which no name other than "Manu- 
 script Story" was given, and which, but for the 
 unauthorized use of the writer's name and the 
 misrepresentation of his motives, would never 
 have been published. Twenty years after the 
 author's death, one Hurlburt, an apostate 
 "Mormon," announced that he had recognized 
 a resemblance between the "Manuscript Story" 
 and the Book of Mormon, and expressed a be- 
 lief that the work brought forward by Joseph 
 Smith was nothing but the Spaulding romance 
 revised and amplified. The apparent credibil- 
 ity of the statement was increased by various 
 signed declarations to the effect that the two 
 were alike, though no extracts for comparison 
 were presented. But the "Manuscript Story" 
 was lost for a time, and in the absence of proof 
 to the contrary, reports of the parallelism be- 
 tween the two works multiplied. By a fortu- 
 nate circumstance, in 1884, President James H. 
 
20 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 Fairchild, of Oberlin College, and a literary 
 friend of his a Mr. Rice while examining a 
 heterogeneous collection of old papers which 
 had been purchased by the gentleman last 
 named, found the original manuscript of the 
 "Story." 
 
 After a careful perusal and comparison with 
 the Book of Mormon, President Fairchild de- 
 clared in an article published in the New York 
 Observer, February 5, 1885 : 
 
 The theory of the origin of the Book of Mor- 
 mon in the traditional manuscript of Solomon 
 Spaulding will probably have to be relinquished. 
 * * * Mr. Rice, myself, and others com- 
 pared it [the Spaulding manuscript] with the 
 Book of Mormon and could detect no resem- 
 blance between the two, in general or in detail. 
 There seems to be no name nor incident com- 
 mon to the two. The solemn style of the Book 
 of Mormon in imitation of the English scrip- 
 tures does not appear in the manuscript. * * * 
 Some other explanation of the origin of the 
 Book of Mormon must be found if any explana- 
 tion is required. 
 
 The manuscript was deposited in the library 
 of Oberlin College where it now reposes. Still, 
 
The Spaulding Story Refuted. 21 
 
 the theory of the "Manuscript Found," as 
 Spaulding's story has come to be known, is oc- 
 casionally pressed into service in the cause of 
 anti-"Mormon" zeal, by some whom we will 
 charitably believe to be ignorant of the facts set 
 forth by President Fairchild. A letter of more 
 recent date, written by that honorable gentle- 
 man in reply to an inquiring correspondent, was 
 published in the Millennial Star, Liverpool, No- 
 vember 3, 1898, and is as follows : 
 
 OBERLIN COLLEGE, OHIO, 
 
 October 17, 1895. 
 
 J. R. HlNDLEY, ESQ~., 
 
 Dear Sir: We have in our college library 
 an original manuscript of Solomon Spaulding 
 unquestionably genuine. 
 
 I found it in 1884 in the hands of Hoii. L. L. 
 Rice, of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. He was 
 formerly state printer at Columbus, Ohio, and 
 before that, publisher of a paper in Painesville, 
 whose preceding publisher had visited Mrs. 
 Spaulding and obtained the manuscript from 
 her. It had lain among his old papers forty 
 years or more, and was brought out by my ask- 
 ing him to look up anti-slavery documents 
 among his papers. 
 
 The manuscript has upon it the signatures of 
 several men of Conneaught, Ohio, who had 
 
22 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 heard Spaulding read it and knew it to be his. 
 No one can see it and question its genuineness. 
 The manuscript has been printed twice, at least ; 
 once by the Mormons of Salt Lake City, and 
 once by the Josephite Mormons of Iowa. The 
 Utah Mormons obtained the copy of Mr. Rice, 
 at Honolulu, and the Josephites got it of me 
 after it came into my possession. 
 
 This manuscript is not the original of the 
 Book of Mormon. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 JAMES H. FAIRCHILD. 
 
 The "Manuscript Story" has been published 
 in full, and comparisons between the same and 
 the Book of Mormon may be made by anyone 
 who has a mind to investigate the subject.* 
 
 *For a fuller account of the Book of Mormon, see 
 the author's "Articles of Faith," Lectures 14 and 15 ; 
 published at Salt Lake City, Utah, 1913. 
 
II. 
 
 BUT we have anticipated the current of 
 events. With the publication of the Book 
 of Mormon, opposition grew more intense to- 
 ward the people who professed a belief in the 
 testimony of Joseph Smith. On the 6th of 
 April, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat- 
 ter-day Saints was formally organized and thus 
 took on a legal existence. The scene of this 
 organization was Fayette, New York, and but 
 six persons were directly concerned as partici- 
 pants. At that time there may have been and 
 probably were many times that number who 
 had professed adherence to the newly restored 
 faith; but as the requirements of the law gov- 
 erning the formation of religious societies were 
 satisfied by the application of six, only the spec- 
 ified number formally took part. Such was the 
 beginning of the Church, soon to be so uni- 
 versally maligned. Its origin was small a 
 germ, an insignificant seed, hardly to be thought 
 of as likely to arouse opposition. What was 
 there to fear in the voluntary association of six 
 
24 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 men, avowedly devoted to peaceful pursuits and 
 benevolent purposes ? Yet a storm of persecu- 
 tion was threatened from the earliest day. At 
 first but a family affair, opposition to the work 
 has involved successively the town, the county, 
 the state, the country, and today the "Mormon" 
 question has been accorded extended considera- 
 tion at the hands of the national government, 
 and indeed most civilized nations have taken 
 cognizance of the same. 
 
 Let us observe the contrast between the be- 
 ginning and the present proportions of the 
 Church. Instead of but six regularly affiliated 
 members, and at most two score of adherents, 
 the organization numbers today many hundred 
 thousand souls. In place of a single hamlet, in 
 the smallest corner of which the members could 
 have congregated, there now are about seventy 
 stakes of Zion and about seven hundred organ- 
 ized wards, each ward and stake with its full 
 complement of officers and priesthood organiza- 
 tions. The practise of gathering its proselytes 
 into one place prevents the building up and 
 strengthening of foreign branches; and inas- 
 much as extensive and strong organizations are 
 seldom met with abroad, very erroneous ideas 
 
Work among the Lamanites. 25 
 
 exist concerning the strength of the Church. 
 Nevertheless, the mustard seed, among the 
 smallest of all seeds, has attained the propor- 
 tions of a tree, and the birds of the air are nest- 
 ing in its branches; the acorn is now an oak 
 offering protection and the sweets of satisfac- 
 tion to every earnest pilgrim journeying its way 
 for truth. 
 
 From the organization of the Church, the 
 spirit of emigration rested upon the people. 
 Their eyes were from the first turned in antici- 
 pation toward the evening sun not merely that 
 the work of proselyting should be carried on in 
 the west, but that the headquarters of the 
 Church should be there established. The Book 
 of Mormon had taught the people the true ori- 
 gin and destiny of the American Indians; and 
 toward this dark-skinned remnant of a once 
 mighty people, the missionaries of "Mormon- 
 ism" early turned their eyes, and with their 
 eyes went their hearts and their hopes. 
 
 Within three months from the beginning, the 
 Church had missionaries among the Lamanites. 
 It is notable that the Indian tribes have gener- 
 ally regarded the religion of the Latter-day 
 Saints with favor, seeing in the Book of Mor- 
 
26 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 mon striking agreement with their own tradi- 
 tions. 
 
 The first well-established seat of the Church 
 was in the pretty little town of Kirtland, Ohio, 
 almost within sight of Lake Erie ; and here soon 
 rose the first temple of modern times. Among 
 their many other peculiarities, the Latter-day 
 Saints are characterized as a temple-building 
 people, as history proves the Israel of ancient 
 times to have been. In the days of their in- 
 fancy as a Church, while in the thrall of pov- 
 erty, and amidst the persecution and direful 
 threats of lawless hordes, they laid the corner- 
 stone, and in less than three years thereafter 
 they celebrated the dedication of the Kirtland 
 Temple, a structure at once beautiful and im- 
 posing. Even before this time, however, popu- 
 lous settlements of Latter-day Saints had been 
 made in Jackson County, Missouri ; and in the 
 town of Independence a site for a great temple 
 had been selected and purchased; but though 
 the ground has been dedicated with solemn 
 ceremony, the people have not as yet built 
 thereon. 
 
 Within two years of its dedication, the tem- 
 ple in Kirtland was abandoned by the people, 
 
Modern Temples. 27 
 
 who were compelled to flee for their lives before 
 the onslaughts of mobocrats ; but a second tem- 
 ple, larger and more beautiful than the first, 
 soon reared its spires in the city of Nauvoo, 
 Illinois. This structure was destroyed by fire, 
 but the temple-building spirit was not to be 
 quenched, and in the vales of Utah today are 
 four magnificent temple edifices. The last com- 
 pleted, which was the first begun, is situated in 
 Salt Lake City, and is one of the wonders and 
 beauties of that city by the great salt sea.* 
 
 To the fervent Latter-day Saint, a temple is 
 not simply a church building, a house for relig- 
 ious assembly. Indeed the "Mormon" temples 
 are rarely used as places of general gatherings. 
 They are in one sense educational institutions, 
 regular courses of lectures and instruction be- 
 ing maintained in some of them; but they are 
 specifically for baptisms and ordinations, for 
 sanctifying prayer, and for the most sacred 
 ceremonies and rites of the Church, particularly 
 in the vicarious work for the dead which is a 
 characteristic of "Mormon" faith. And who 
 
 *For a detailed account of modern temples, with 
 numerous pictorial views, see "The House of the Lord," 
 by the present author ; Salt Lake City, Utah, 1912. 
 
28 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 that has gazed upon these splendid shrines will 
 say that the people who can do so much in pov- 
 erty and tribulation are insincere? Bigoted 
 they may seem to those who believe not as they 
 do ; fanatics they may be to multitudes who like 
 the proud Pharisee of old thank God they are 
 not as these ; but insincere they cannot be, even 
 in the judgment of their bitterest opponent, if 
 he be a creature of reason. 
 
 The clouds of persecution thickened in Ohio 
 as the intolerant zeal of mobs found frequent 
 expression; numerous charges, trivial and seri- 
 ous, were made against the leaders of the 
 Church, and they were repeatedly brought be- 
 fore the courts, only to be liberated on the usual 
 finding of no cause for action. Meanwhile the 
 march to the west was maintained. Soon 
 thousands of converts had rented or purchased 
 homes in Missouri Independence, Jackson 
 County, being their center; but from the first, 
 they were unpopular among the Missourians. 
 Their system of equal rights with their marked 
 disapproval of every species of aristocratic sep- 
 aration and self-aggrandizement was declared 
 to be a species of communism, dangerous to the 
 state. An inoffensive journalistic organ, The 
 
Persecution in Missouri. 29 
 
 Star, published for the purpose of properly pre- 
 senting the religious tenets of the people, was 
 made the particular object of the mob's rage; 
 the house of its publisher was razed to the 
 ground, the press and type were confiscated, 
 and the editor and his family maltreated. An 
 absurd story was circulated and took firm hold 
 of the masses that the Book of Mormon prom- 
 ised the western lands to the people of the 
 Church, and that they intended to take posses- 
 sion of these lands by force. Throughout the 
 book of revelations regarded by the people as 
 law specially directed to them, they are told to 
 save their riches that they may purchase the in- 
 heritance promised them of God. Everywhere 
 are they told to maintain peace; the sword is 
 never offered as their symbol of conquest. 
 Their gathering is to be like that of the Jews at 
 Jerusalem a pacific one, and in their taking 
 possession of what they regard as a land of 
 promise, no one previously located there shall 
 be denied his rights. 
 
 A spirit of fierce persecution raged in Jackson 
 and surrounding counties of Missouri. An ap- 
 peal was made to the executive of the state, but 
 little encouragement was returned. The lieu- 
 
30 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 tenant-governor, Lilburn W. Boggs, afterward 
 governor, was a pronounced "Mormon"-hater, 
 and throughout the period of the troubles, he 
 manifested sympathy with the persecutors. 
 
 One of the circuit judges who was asked to 
 issue a peace warrant refused to do so, but ad- 
 vised the "Mormons" to arm themselves and 
 meet the force of the outlaws with organized 
 resistance. This advice was not pleasing to the 
 Latter-day Saints, whose religion enjoined tol- 
 erance and peace; but they so far heeded it as 
 to arm a small force ; and when the outlaws next 
 came upon them, the people were not entirely 
 unprepared. A "Mormon" rebellion was now 
 proclaimed. The people had been goaded to 
 desperation. The militia was ordered out, and 
 the "Mormons" were disarmed. The mob was 
 unrestrained in its eagerness for revenge. The 
 "Mormons" engaged able lawyers to institute 
 and maintain legal proceedings against their 
 foes, and this step, the right to which one would 
 think could be denied no American citizen, 
 called forth such an uproar of popular wrath as 
 to affect almost the entire state. 
 
 It was winter ; but the inclemency of the year 
 only suited the better the purpose of the op- 
 
Expulsion from Jackson County. 3 1 
 
 pressor. Homes were destroyed, men torn from 
 their families were brutally beaten, tarred and 
 feathered ; women with babes in their arms were 
 forced to flee half-clad into the solitude of the 
 prairie to escape from mobocratic violence. 
 Their sufferings have never yet been fitly chron- 
 icled by human scribe. Making their way across 
 the river, most of the refugees found shelter 
 among the more hospitable people of Clay 
 County, and afterward established themselves 
 in Caldwell County, therein founding the city 
 of Far West. County and state judges, the 
 governor, and even the President of the United 
 States, were appealed to in turn for redress. 
 The national executive, Andrew Jackson, while 
 expressing sympathy for the persecuted people, 
 deplored his lack of power to interfere with the 
 administration or non-administration of state 
 laws ; the national officials could do nothing ; the 
 state officials would do naught. 
 
 But the expulsion from Jackson County was 
 but a prelude to the tragedy soon to follow. A 
 single scene of the bloody drama is known as 
 the Haun's Mill massacre. A small settlement 
 had been founded by "Mormon" families on 
 Shoal Creek, and here on the 30th of October, 
 
32 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 1838, a company of two hundred and forty fell 
 upon the hapless settlers and butchered a score. 
 No respect was paid to age or sex ; grey heads, 
 and infant lips that scarcely had learned to lisp 
 a word, vigorous manhood and immature 
 youth, mother and maiden, fared alike in the 
 scene of carnage, and their bodies were thrown 
 into an old well. 
 
 In October, 1838, the Governor of Missouri, 
 the same Lilburn W. Boggs, issued his in- 
 famous exterminating order, and called upon 
 the militia of the state to execute it. The lan- 
 guage of this document, signed by the executive 
 of a sovereign state of the Union, declared that 
 the "Mormons" must be driven from the state 
 or exterminated. Be it said to the honor of 
 some of the officers entrusted with the terrible 
 commission, that when they learned its true sig- 
 nificance they resigned their authority rather 
 than have anything to do with what they desig : 
 nated a cold-blooded butchery. But tools were 
 not wanting, as indeed they never have been, 
 for murder and its kindred outrages. What 
 the heart of man can conceive, the hand of man 
 will find a way to execute. The awful work 
 was carried out with dread dispatch. Oh, what 
 
Expulsion from Missouri. 33 
 
 a record to read ; what a picture to gaze upon ; 
 how awful the fact! An official edict offering 
 expatriation or death to a peaceable community 
 with no crime proved against them, and guilty 
 of no offense other than that of choosing to 
 differ in opinion from the masses! American 
 school boys read with emotions of horror of the 
 Albigenses, driven, beaten and killed, with a 
 papal legate directing the butchery ; and of the 
 Vaudois, hunted and hounded like beasts as the 
 effect of a royal decree ; and they yet shall read 
 in the history of their own country of scenes as 
 terrible as these in the exhibition of injustice 
 and inhuman hate. 
 
 In the dread alternative offered them, the 
 people determined again to abandon their 
 homes; but whither should they go? Already 
 they had fled before the lawless oppressor over 
 well nigh half a continent ; already were they 
 on the frontiers of the country that they had 
 regarded as the land of promised liberty. Thus 
 far every move had carried them westward, but 
 farther west they could not go unless they went 
 entirely beyond the country of their birth, and 
 gave up their hope of protection under the Con- 
 stitution, which to them had ever been an in- 
 
34 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 spired instrument, the majesty of which, as they 
 had never doubted, would be some day vindi- 
 cated, even to securing for them the rights of 
 American citizens. This time their faces were 
 turned toward the east; and a host numbering 
 from ten to twelve thousand, including many 
 women and children, abandoned their homes 
 and fled before their murderous pursuers, red- 
 dening the snow with bloody footprints as they 
 journeyed. They crossed the Mississippi and 
 sought protection on the soil of Illinois. There 
 their sad condition evoked for a time general 
 commiseration. 
 
 The press of the state denounced the treat- 
 ment of the people by the Missourians and vin- 
 dicated the character of the "Mormons" as 
 peaceable and law-abiding citizens. College 
 professors published expressions of their horror 
 over the cruel crusade; state officials, includ- 
 ing even the governor, gave substantial evi- 
 dence of their sympathy and good feeling. This 
 lull in the storm of outrage that had so long 
 raged about them offered a strange contrast to 
 their usual treatment. Let it not be thought 
 that all the people of Illinois were their friends; 
 from the first, opposition was manifest, but 
 
Persecutors Denounced. 35 
 
 their condition was so greatly bettered that they 
 might have thought the advent of their Zion to 
 be near at hand. 
 
 I stated that professional men, and even col- 
 lege professors raised their voices in commiser- 
 ation of the "Mormon" situation and in de- 
 nouncing the "Mormon" oppressors. Prof. 
 Turner of Illinois College wrote : 
 
 Who began the quarrel ? Was it the "Mor- 
 mons?" Is it not notorious on the contrary 
 that they were hunted like wild beasts from 
 county to county before they made any resist- 
 ance? Did they ever, as a body, refuse obedi- 
 ence to the laws, when called upon to do so, 
 until driven to desperation by repeated threats 
 and assaults by the mob? Did the state ever 
 make one decent effort to defend them as fel- 
 low-citizens in their rights or to redress their 
 wrongs ? Let the conduct of its governors and 
 attorneys and the fate of their final petitions 
 answer ! Have any who plundered and openly 
 insulted the "Mormons" ever been brought to 
 the punishment due to their crimes ? Let boast- 
 ing murderers of begging and helpless infancy 
 answer! Has the state ever remunerated even 
 those known to be innocent for the loss of either 
 their property or their arms? Did either the 
 pulpit or the press through the state raise a note 
 
36 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 of remonstrance or alarm ? Let the clergymen 
 who abetted and the editors who encouraged 
 the mob answer! 
 
 As a sample of the press comments against 
 the brutality of the Missourians I quote a para- 
 graph from the Quincy Argus, March 16,. 1839 : 
 
 We have no language sufficiently strong for 
 the expression of our indignation and shame at 
 the recent transaction in a sister state, and that 
 state, Missouri, a state of which we had long 
 been proud, alike for her men and history, but 
 now so fallen that we could wish her star strick- 
 en from the bright constellation of the Union. 
 We say we know of no language sufficiently 
 strong for the expression of our shame and ab- 
 horrence of her recent conduct. She has writ- 
 ten her own character in letters of blood, and 
 stained it by acts of merciless cruelty and bru- 
 tality that the waters of ages cannot efface. It 
 will be observed that an organized mob, aided 
 by many of the civil and military officers of 
 Missouri, with Gov. Boggs at their head, have 
 been the prominent actors in this business, in- 
 cited too, it appears, against the "Mormons" by 
 political hatred, and by the additional motives 
 of plunder and revenge. They have but too 
 well put in execution their threats of extermina- 
 tion and expulsion, and fully wreaked their ven- 
 
Favorable Press Comment. 37 
 
 geance on a body of industrious and enterpris- 
 ing men, who had never wronged nor wished to 
 wrong them, but on the contrary had ever com- 
 ported themselves as good and honest citizens, 
 living under the same laws, and having the 
 same right with themselves to the sacred im- 
 munities of life, liberty and property. 
 
III. 
 
 SETTLING in and about the obscure village 
 of Commerce, the "Mormon" refugees 
 soon demonstrated anew the marvelous recuper- 
 ative power with which they were endowed, and 
 a city seemed to spring from the earth. Nau- 
 voo the City Beautiful was the name given 
 to this new abiding place. It was situated but 
 a few miles from Quincy, in a bend of the ma- 
 jestic river, giving the town three water fronts. 
 It seemed to nestle there as if the Father of 
 Waters was encircling it with his mighty arm. 
 Soon a glorious temple crowned the hill up 
 which the city had run in its rapid growth. 
 Their settlements extended into Iowa, then a 
 territory. The governors of both Iowa and 
 Ohio testified to the worthiness of the Latter- 
 day Saints as citizens, and pledged them the 
 protection of the commonwealth. The city of 
 Nauvoo was chartered by the state of Illinois, 
 and the rights of local self-government were 
 assured to its citizens. 
 
 A military organization, the "Nauvoo Le- 
 
Difficulties in Illinois. 39 
 
 gion," was authorized, and the establishment of 
 a university was provided for; both these or- 
 ganizations were successfully effected. It was 
 here that a memorial was prepared and sent to 
 the national government, reciting the outrages 
 of Missouri, and asking reparation. Joseph 
 Smith himself, the head of the delegation, had 
 a personal interview with President Van Buren, 
 in which the grievances of the Latter-day Saints 
 were presented. Van Buren replied in words 
 that will not be forgotten, "Your cause is just, 
 but I can do nothing for you." 
 
 The peaceful conditions at first characteristic 
 of their Illinois settlement were not to continue. 
 The element of political influence asserted itself 
 and the "Mormons" bade fair to soon hold the 
 balance of power in local affairs. The charac- 
 teristic unity, so marked in connection with 
 every phase of the people's existence, promised 
 loo much; immigration into Hancock county 
 was continuous, and the growing power of the 
 Latter-day Saints was viewed with apprehen- 
 sion. With this as the true motive, many pre- 
 texts for annoyance were found; and arrests, 
 trials, and acquittals were common experiences 
 of the Church officers. 
 
40 The Story of ''Mormonism." 
 
 A charge, which promised to prove as devoid 
 of foundation as had the excuses for the fifty 
 arrests preceding it, led Joseph Smith, president 
 of the Church, and Hyrum Smith, the patriarch, 
 to again surrender themselves to the officers of 
 the law. They were taken to Carthage, Joseph 
 having declared to friends his belief that he was 
 going to the slaughter. Governor Ford gave 
 to the prisoners his personal guarantee for their 
 safety; but mob violence was supreme, more 
 mighty than the power of the state militia 
 placed there to guard the prison ; and these men 
 were shot to death, even while under the gov- 
 ernor's plighted pledge of protection. Hyrum 
 fell first; and Joseph, appearing at one of the 
 windows in the second story, received the leaden 
 missiles of the besieging mob, which was led 
 by a recreant though professed minister of the 
 gospel. But the brutish passion of the mob was 
 not yet sated ; propping the body against a well- 
 curb in the jail-yard, the murderers poured a 
 volley of bullets into the corpse, and fled. Thus 
 was the unholy vow of the mob fulfilled, that as 
 law could not touch the "Mormon" leaders, 
 powder and ball should. John Taylor, who be- 
 
The Prophet Slain. 41 
 
 came years afterward president of the Church, 
 was in the jail at the same time; he received 
 four bullets, and was left supposedly dead. 
 
 Joseph Smith had been more than the eccles- 
 iastical leader ; his presence and personality had 
 been ever powerful as a stimulus to the hearts 
 of the people; none knew his personal power 
 better than the members of his own flock, unless 
 indeed it were the wolves who were ever seek- 
 ing to harry the fold. It had been the boast of 
 anti-"Mormons" that with Joseph Smith re- 
 moved, the Church would crumble to pieces of 
 itself. In the personality of their leader, it was 
 thought, lay the secret of the people's strength ; 
 and like the Philistines, the enemy struck at the 
 supposed bond of power. Terrible as was the 
 blow of the fearful fatality, the Church soon 
 emerged from its despairing state of poignant 
 grief, and rose mightier than before. It is the 
 faith of this people that while the work of God 
 on earth is carried on by men, yet mortals are 
 but instruments in the Creator's hands for the 
 accomplishment of divine purposes. The death 
 of the president disorganized the First Presi- 
 dency of the Church ; but the official body next 
 
42 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 in authority, the Council of the Twelve, stepped 
 to the front, and the progress of the Church was 
 unhindered. The work of the ministry was not 
 arrested ; the people paused but long enough to 
 bury their dead and clear their eyes from the 
 blinding tears that fell. 
 
 Let us take a retrospective glance at this 
 unusual man. Though his opponents deny him 
 the divine commission with which his friends 
 believe he was charged, they all, friends and 
 foes alike, admit that he was a great man. 
 Through the testimony of his life's work and 
 the sanctifying seal of his martyrdom, thou- 
 sands have come to acknowledge him all that he 
 professed to be a messenger from God to the 
 people. He is not without admirers among 
 men who deny the truth of his principles and 
 the faith of his people. 
 
 A historical writer of the time, Josiah Quin- 
 cy, a few weeks after the martyrdom, wrote : 
 
 It is by no means improbable that some fu- 
 ture text book for the use of generations yet un- 
 born, will contain a question something like 
 this: "What historical American of the nine- 
 teenth century has exerted the most powerful 
 influence upon the destinies of his countrymen ?" 
 
Josiah Quincy's Tribute. 43 
 
 And it is by no means impossible that the answer 
 to that interrogatory may be thus written 
 "Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet." And 
 the reply, absurd as it doubtless seems to most 
 men now living, may be an obvious common- 
 place to their descendants. History deals in 
 surprises and paradoxes quite as startling as 
 this. A man who established a religion in this 
 age of free debate, who was and is today ac- 
 cepted by hundreds of thousands as a direct 
 emissary from the Most High such a rare hu- 
 man being is not to be disposed of by pelting his 
 memory with unsavory epithets. * * * The 
 most vital questions Americans are asking each 
 other today, have to deal with this man and 
 what he has left us. * * * Joseph Smith, 
 claiming to be an inspired teacher, faced ad- 
 versity such as few men have been called to 
 meet, enjoyed a brief season of prosperity such 
 as few men have ever attained, and finally 
 * * * went cheerfully to a martyr's death. 
 When he surrendered his person to Governor 
 Ford, in order to prevent the shedding of blood, 
 the Prophet had a presentiment of what was 
 before him. "I am going like a lamb to the 
 slaughter," he is reported to have said, "but I 
 am as calm as a summer's morning. I have a 
 conscience void of offense, and shall die inno- 
 cent." 
 
 The "Mormon" people regarded it as a duty 
 
44 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 to make every proper effort to bring the perpe- 
 trators of the foul assassination of their leaders 
 to justice; sixty names were presented to the 
 local grand jury, and of the persons so desig- 
 nated, nine were indicted. After a farcical 
 semblance of a trial, these were acquitted, and 
 thus was notice, sanctioned by the constituted 
 authority of the law, served upon all anti-"Mor- 
 mons" of Illinois, that they were safe in any 
 assault they might choose to make on the sub- 
 jects of their hate. The mob was composed of 
 apt pupils in the learning of this lesson. Per- 
 sonal outrages were of every-day occurrence; 
 husbandmen were captured in their fields, 
 beaten, tortured, until they barely had strength 
 left to promise compliance with the demands of 
 their assailants, that they would leave the 
 state. Houses were fired while the tenants 
 were wrapped in uneasy slumber within; in- 
 deed, one entire town, that of Morley, was by 
 such incendiarism reduced to ashes. Women 
 and children were aroused in the night, and 
 compelled to flee unclad or perish in their burn- 
 ing dwellings. 
 
 But what of the internal work of the Church 
 during these trying periods? As the winds of 
 
Brigham Young, the Leader. 45 
 
 winter, the storms of the year's deepest night, 
 do but harden and strengthen the mountain 
 pine, whose roots strike the deeper, whose 
 branches thicken, whose twigs multiply by the 
 inclemency that would be fatal to the exotic 
 palm, raised by man with hot-house nursing, 
 so the new sect continued its growth, partly 
 in spite of, partly because of, the storms to 
 which it was subjected. It was no green-house 
 growth, struggling for existence in a foreign 
 clime, but a- fit plant for the soil of a free land ; 
 and there existed in the minds of unprejudiced 
 observers not a doubt as to its vitality. The 
 Church soon found its equilibrium again after 
 the shock of its cruel experience. Brigham 
 Young, who for a decade had been identified 
 with the cause, who had received his full share 
 of persecution at mobocratic hands, now stood 
 at the head of the presiding body in the priest- 
 hood of the Church. The effect of this man's 
 wonderful personality, his surprising natural 
 ability, and to the people, the proofs of his 
 divine acceptance, were apparent from the first. 
 Migration from other states and from for- 
 eign shores continued to swell the "Mormon" 
 band, and this but angered the oppressors the 
 
46 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 more. The members of the Church, recogniz- 
 ing the inevitable long before predicted by their 
 murdered prophet, that the march of the Church 
 would be westward, redoubled their efforts to 
 complete the grand temple upon which they had 
 not ceased to work through all the storms of 
 persecution. This structure, solemnly dedi- 
 cated to their God, they entered, and there re- 
 ceived their anointings and their blessings ; then 
 they abandoned it to the desecration and self- 
 condemning outrages of their foes. For the 
 mob's decree had gone forth, that the "Mor- 
 mons" must leave Illinois. After a few san- 
 guinary encounters, the leaders of the people 
 acceded to the demands of their assailants, and 
 agreed to leave early in the following spring; 
 but the departure was not speedy enough to 
 suit, and the lawless persecution was waged the 
 more ruthlessly. 
 
 Soon the soil of Illinois was free from "Mor- 
 mon" tread ; Nauvoo was deserted, her 20,000 
 inhabitants expatriated. Colonel Thomas L. 
 Kane, a conspicuous figure at this stage of our 
 country's history, was traveling eastward at the 
 time, and reached Nauvoo shortly after its evac- 
 uation. In a lecture before the Historical So- 
 
Colonel Kane's Experience. 47 
 
 ciety of Pennsylvania, he related his experience 
 in this sometime abode of the Saints. I para- 
 phrase a portion of his eloquent address. 
 
 Sighting the city from the western shore of 
 the mighty Mississippi, as it nestled in the riv- 
 er's encircling embrace, he crossed to its prin- 
 cipal wharf, and, there to his surprise, found no 
 soul to meet him. The stillness that everywhere 
 prevailed was painful, broken only by an oc- 
 casional faint echo of boisterous shout or ribald 
 song from a distance. The town was in a 
 dream, and the warrior trod lightly lest he 
 wake it in affright, for he plainly saw that it 
 had not slumbered long. No grass grew in the 
 pavement joints; recent footprints were still 
 distinct in the dusty thoroughfares. The visitor 
 made his way unmolested into work-shops and 
 smithies ; tools lay as last used ; on the carpen- 
 ter's bench was the unfinished frame, on the 
 floor were the shavings fresh and odorous ; the 
 wood was piled in readiness before the baker's 
 oven ; the blacksmith's forge was cold, but the 
 shop looked as though the occupant had just 
 gone off for a holiday. The gallant soldier 
 entered gardens unchallenged by owner, human 
 guard, or watchful dog; he might have sup- 
 
48 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 posed the people hidden or dead in their houses ; 
 but the doors were not fastened, and he entered 
 to explore, there were fresh ashes on the 
 hearth; no great accumulation of the dust of 
 time was on floors or furniture ; the awful quiet 
 compelled him to tread a-tip-toe as if thread- 
 ing the aisles of an unoccupied cathedral. He 
 hastened to the graveyard, though surely the 
 city had not been depopulated by pestilence. 
 No; there were a few stones newly set, some 
 sods freshly turned in this sacred acre of God, 
 but where can you find a cemetery of a living 
 town with no such evidence of recent inter- 
 ment? There were fields of heavy grain, the 
 bounteous harvest rotting on the ground ; there 
 were orchards dropping their rich and rosy 
 fruit to spoil beneath; not a hand to gather 
 or save. 
 
 But in a suburban corner, he came across 
 the smoldering embers of a barbecue fire, with 
 fragments of flesh and other remnants of a 
 feast. Hereabout houses had been demolished ; 
 and there beyond, around the great temple 
 that had first attracted his attention from the 
 Iowa shore, armed men were bivouacked. This 
 worthy representative of our country's service 
 
Mobocratic Outrages. 49 
 
 was challenged by the drunken crowd, and 
 made to give an account of himself, and to an- 
 swer for having crossed the river without a 
 permit from the head of the band. Finding 
 that he was a stranger, they related to him in 
 fiendish glee their recent exploits of pillage, 
 rapine, and murder. They conducted him 
 through the temple ; everywhere were marks of 
 their brutish acts; its altars of prayer were 
 broken; the baptismal font had been so "dili- 
 gently desecrated as to render the apartment in 
 which it was contained too noisome to abide 
 in." There in the steeple close by the "scar of 
 divine wrath" left by a recent thunderbolt, were 
 broken covers of liquor and drinking vessels. 
 
 Sickened with the sight, disgusted with this 
 spectacle of outrage, the colonel recrossed the 
 river at nightfall, beating upward, for the wind 
 had freshened. Attracted by a faint light near 
 the bank, he approached the spot, there to find 
 a few haggard faces surrounding one who 
 seemed to be in the last stages of fever. The 
 sufferer was partially protected by something 
 like a tent made from a couple of bed sheets; 
 and amid such environment, the spirit was 
 pluming itself for flight. Making his way 
 
50 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 through this camp of misery, he heard the sob- 
 bings of children hungry and sick; there were 
 men and women dying from wounds or dis- 
 ease, without a semblance of shelter or other 
 physical comfort; wives in the pangs of ma- 
 ternity, ushering into the world innocent babes 
 doomed to be motherless from their birth. And 
 at intervals, to the ears of those outcasts, the 
 sick and the dying, the wind brought the soul- 
 piercing sounds of the reveling mob in the dis- 
 tant city, the scrap of vulgar song, the shock- 
 ing oath, shrieked from the temple tower in the 
 madness of drunken orgies. 
 
 This, however, was but the rear remnant of 
 the expatriated Christian band. The van was 
 already far on its way toward the inviting wil- 
 derness of the all but unknown west. But the 
 wanderers were not wholly without friends; 
 certain Indian tribes, the Omahas and the Pot 
 awatomis, welcomed them to their lands, in- 
 viting them to camp within their territory dur- 
 ing the coming winter. "Welcome," said these 
 children of the forest, "we too have been driven 
 from our pleasant homes east of the great river, 
 to these damp and unhealthful bottoms; you 
 now, white men, have been driven forth to the 
 
The Camp of Israel. 51 
 
 prairies; we are fellow-sufferers. Welcome, 
 brothers." 
 
 In return much assistance was rendered by 
 the white refugees to their, shall I say savage 
 friends? If it was civilization the wanderers 
 had left, then indeed might the red men of the 
 forest have felt proud of their distinction. But 
 the Indian agent, a Christian gentleman, or- 
 dered the "Mormons" to move on and leave 
 the reservation which a kind government had 
 provided for its red children. An order from 
 President Polk, who had been appealed to by 
 Colonel Kane, gave the people permission to 
 remain for a short season. The government 
 of Iowa had courteously assured them protec- 
 tion while passing through that territory. As 
 soon as the people were well under way, a 
 thorough organization was effected. Remem- 
 bering the toilsome desert march from Egypt 
 to Canaan, the people assumed the name, 
 "Camp of Israel." The camp consisted of two 
 main divisions, and each was sub-divided into 
 companies of hundreds, fifties, and tens, with 
 captains to direct. An officer with one hundred 
 volunteers went ahead of the main body to se- 
 lect a route and prepare a road. At this time, 
 
52 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 there were over one thousand wagons of the 
 "Mormons" rolling westward, and the line of 
 march soon reached from the Mississippi to 
 Council Bluffs. There were in the company 
 not half enough draft animals for the arduous 
 march, and but an insufficient number of able- 
 bodied men to tend the camps. The women 
 had to assist in driving teams and stock, and 
 in other labors of the journey. Yet with their 
 characteristic cheerfulness the people made the 
 best, and that proved to be a great deal, out 
 of their lot. When the camp halted, a city 
 seemed to spring as if by magic from the prairie 
 soil. Concerts and social gatherings were 
 usual features of the evening rests. 
 
 But another great event disturbed the equa- 
 nimity of the camp. War had broken out 
 between Mexico and the United States. Gen- 
 eral Taylor's victories in the early stages of 
 the strife had been all but decisive, but the 
 Republic was on march to the western ocean 
 and the provinces of New Mexico and Cali- 
 fornia were in her path. These two provinces 
 comprised in addition to the territory now 
 designated by those names, Utah, Nevada, por- 
 tions of Wyoming and Colorado, as also Ari- 
 
The Mormon Battalion. 53 
 
 zona; while Oregon, then claimed by Great 
 Britain, included Washington, Idaho, and por- 
 tions of Montana and Wyoming. It was the 
 plan of the national administration to occupy 
 these provinces at the earliest moment possible ; 
 and a call was made upon the "Mormon" refu- 
 gees to contribute to the general force by fur- 
 nishing a battalion of five hundred men to take 
 part in the war with Mexico. The surprise 
 which the message of the government officer 
 produced in the camp amounted almost to dis- 
 may. Five hundred men fit to bear arms to 
 be drafted from that camp! What would be- 
 come of the rest? Already women and boys 
 had been pressed into service to do the work of 
 men; already the sick and the halt had been 
 neglected; and many graves marked the path 
 they had traversed, whose tenants had passed 
 to their last sleep through lack of care. 
 
 But how long did they hesitate? Scarcely 
 an hour; it was the call of their country. True, 
 they were even then leaving the national soil, 
 but not of their own will. To them their 
 country was and is the promised land, the 
 Lord's chosen place, the land of Zion. "You 
 shall have your battalion," said Brigham Young 
 
54 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 to Captain Allen, the muster officer, "and if 
 there are not young men enough, we will take 
 the old men, and if they are not enough, we 
 will take the women." Within a week from 
 the time President Folk's message was re- 
 ceived, the entire force, in all five hundred and 
 forty-nine souls, was on the march to Fort 
 Leavenworth. Their path from the Missouri 
 to the Pacific led them over two thousand 
 miles, much of this distance being measured 
 through deserts, which prior to that time had 
 not been trodden by civilized foot. 
 
 Colonel Cooke, the commander of the "Mor- 
 mon" Battalion, declared, "History may be 
 searched in vain for an equal march of in- 
 'fantry." Many were disabled through the se- 
 verity of the march, and numerous cases of 
 sickness and death \vere chronicled. General 
 Kearney and his successor, Governor R. B. 
 Mason, as military commandants of California, 
 spoke in high praise of this organization, and in 
 their official reports declared that they had made 
 efforts to prolong the battalion's term of ser- 
 vice; but most of the men chose to rejoin their 
 families as soon as they could secure their hon- 
 orable discharge. 
 
Providential Help. 55 
 
 But to return to the Camp of Israel : A pio- 
 neer party, consisting of a hundred and forty 
 and four, preceded the main body; and the 
 line of the migrating hosts soon stretched from 
 the Missouri to the valley of the Great Salt 
 Lake. Wagons there were, as also some horses 
 and men, but all too few for the journey; and 
 a great part of the company walked the full 
 thousand miles across the great plains and the 
 forbidding deserts of the west. In the Black 
 Hills region, the pioneers were delayed a week 
 at the Platte, a stream, which, though usually 
 fordable at this point was now so swollen as to 
 make fording impossible. Here, too, their pro- 
 visions were well nigh exhausted. Game had 
 not been plentiful, and the "Mormon" pioneers 
 were threatened with the direst privations. In 
 their slow march they had been passed by a 
 number of well-equipped parties, some of them 
 from Missouri bound for the Pacific; but most 
 of these were overtaken on the easterly side of 
 the river. Amongst the effects of the "Mor- 
 mon" party was a leathern boat, which on water 
 served the legitimate purpose of its maker and 
 on land was made to do service as a wagon 
 box. This, together with rafts specially con- 
 
56 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 structed, was now put to good use in ferrying 
 across the river not alone themselves and their 
 little property, but the other companies and 
 their loads. For this service they were well 
 paid in camp provisions. 
 
 Thus, the expatriated pioneers found them- 
 selves relieved from want with their meal 
 sacks replenished in the heart of the wilder- 
 ness. Many may call it superstition, but some 
 will regard it as did the thankful travelers 
 an interposition of Providence, and an answer 
 to their prayers an event to be compared, 
 they said, to the feeding of Israel with manna 
 in the wilderness of old. 
 
 After over three months' journeying, the 
 pioneer company reached the valley of the 
 Great Salt Lake; and at the first sight of it, 
 Brigham Young declared it to be the halting 
 place the gathering center for the Saints. But 
 what was there inviting in this wilderness 
 spread out like a scroll barren of inviting 
 message, and empty but for the picture it pre- 
 sented of wondrous scenic grandeur? Look- 
 ing from the Wasatch barrier, the colonists 
 gazed upon a scene of entrancing though for- 
 bidding beauty. A barren, arid plain, rimmed 
 
View of the Promised Land. 57 
 
 by mountains like a literal basin, still occupied 
 in its lowest parts by the dregs of what had 
 once filled it to the brim; no green meadows, 
 not a tree worthy the name, scarce a patch of 
 green-sward to entice the adventurous wan- 
 derers into the valley. The slopes were covered 
 with sage-brush, relieved by patches of chap- 
 paral oak and squaw-bush; the wild sunflower 
 lent its golden hue to intensify the sharp con- 
 trasts. Off to the westward lay the lake, mak- 
 ing an impressive, uninviting picture in its 
 severe, unliving beauty; from its blue wastes 
 somber peaks rose as precipitous islands, and 
 about the shores of this dead sea were saline 
 flats that told of the scorching heat and thirsty 
 atmosphere of this parched region. A turbid 
 river ran from south to north athwart the val- 
 ley, "dividing it in twain," as a historian of 
 the day has written, "as if the vast bowl in the 
 intense heat of the Master Potter's fires, in 
 process of formation had cracked asunder." 
 Small streams of water started in rippling haste 
 from the snow-caps of the mountains toward 
 the lake, but most of them were devoured by 
 the thirsty sands of the valley before their jour- 
 ney was half completed. 
 
58 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 Such was the scene of desolation that greet- 
 ed the pioneer band. A more forsaken spot 
 "they had not passed in all their wanderings. 
 And is this the promised land? This is the 
 very place of which Bridger spake \vhen he 
 proffered a thousand dollars in gold for the 
 first bushel of grain that could be raised here, 
 \Yith such a Canaan spread out before them, 
 was it not wholly pardonable if some did sigh 
 with longing for the leeks and flesh-pots of the 
 Egypt they had left, or wished to pass by this 
 land and seek a fairer home ? Two of the three 
 women who belonged to the party were utterly 
 disappointed. "Weak, worn, and weary as I 
 am," said one of these heroines, "I would rather 
 push on another thousand miles than stay here." 
 
 But the voice of their leader was heard. "The 
 very place," said Brigham Young, and in his 
 prophetic mind there rose a vision of what was 
 to come. Not for a moment did he doubt the 
 future. He saw a multitude of towns and 
 cities, hamlets and villas filling this and neigh- 
 boring valleys, with the fairest .of all, a city 
 whose beauty of situation, whose wealth of re- 
 source should become known throughout the 
 world, rising from the most arid site of the 
 
Irrigation in the West. 59 
 
 burning desert before him, hard by the barren 
 salt shores of the watery waste. There in the 
 very heart of the parched wilderness should 
 stand the House of the Lord, with other temples 
 in valleys beyond the horizon of his gaze. 
 
 Within a few hours after the arrival of the 
 vanguard upon the banks of what is now known 
 as City Creek the mountain stream which to- 
 day furnishes Salt Lake City part of her water 
 supply plows were put to work ; but the hard- 
 baked soil, never before disturbed by the efforts 
 of man to till, refused to yield to the share. A 
 dam was thrown across the stream and the soft- 
 ening liquid was spread upon the flat that had 
 been chosen for the first fields. The planting 
 season had already well nigh passed, and not 
 a day could be lost. Potatoes and other seed 
 were put in, and the land was again flooded. 
 Such was the beginning of the irrigation sys 
 tern, which soon became co-extensive with the 
 area occupied by the "Mormon" settlers, a 
 system which under the blessing of Providence, 
 has proved to be the veritable magic touch by 
 which the desert has been made a field of rich- 
 ness and a garden of beauty; a system which 
 now after many decades of successful trial is 
 
60 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 held up by the nation's wise and great ones to 
 be the one practicable method of reclaiming our 
 country's vast domains of arid lands. It was 
 on the 24th of July, 1847, that the main part 
 of the pioneer band entered the valley of the 
 Great Salt Lake, and that day of the year is 
 observed as a legal holiday in Utah. From 
 that time to the present, the stream of immigra- 
 tion to these valleys has never ceased. 
 
IV. 
 
 THE dangers of the first company's migra- 
 tion were surpassed by those of parties 
 who subsequently braved the terrors of the 
 plains. In their enthusiasm to reach the gath- 
 ering place of their people, many of the Lat- 
 ter-day Saints set out from Iowa, where rail- 
 way facilities had their termination, with hand r 
 carts only as a means of conveyance. To- 
 day there are living in the smiling vales of 
 Utah, men and women who then as boys and 
 girls trudged wearily across the prairies, drag- 
 ging the lumbering carts that contained their 
 entire provision against starvation and freez- 
 ing. Such handcart companies were organ- 
 ized with care; a limited amount of freight was 
 allowed to each division; milch cattle and a 
 very few draft-animals, with wagons for con- 
 veying the heavier baggage and to carry the 
 sick, were assigned. The tale of those dreary 
 marches has never yet been told; the song 
 of the heroism and sacrifice displayed by these 
 pilgrims for conscience sake is awaiting a sing- 
 
62 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 er worthy the theme. Wading the streams with 
 carts in tow, or in cases of unfordable streams, 
 stopping to construct rafts ; at times living on 
 reduced rations of but a few ounces of meal 
 per day; lying down at night with a prayer 
 in the heart that they wake no more on earth, 
 a prayer which had its fulfilment in hundreds 
 of cases ; the dying heaving their parting sighs 
 in the arms of loved ones who were soon to 
 follow, they journeyed on. 
 
 The inevitable catastrophes and accidents 
 of travel robbed them of their substance. Hos- 
 tile savages stampeded their cattle, or openly 
 attacked and plundered the trains. But on they 
 went, never swerving from the course. These 
 later companies needed no chart nor compass 
 to guide them over the desert; the road was 
 plain from the marks of former camps, and 
 yet more so from the graves of friends and 
 loved ones who had started before on the road 
 to the earthly Zion and found that it led them 
 to the martyr's entrance to heaven, graves that 
 were marked perhaps but by a rude inscrip- 
 tion cut on a pole or a board. And even these 
 narrow lodgings had not been left inviolate ; the 
 wolves of the plains had too often succeeded in 
 
Sufferings of the Immigrants. 63 
 
 unearthing and rending the bodies. Every 
 company thus made the course the plainer ; each 
 of them added to the silent population of the 
 desert; sometimes half a score were interred 
 at one camp, and of one company over a fourth 
 were thus left beside the prairie road. Now 
 we traverse the self-same track in a day and a 
 night, reclining on luxurious cushions of ease, 
 covering fifty miles while dining in luxury ; and 
 we avert the ennui of the journey by berating 
 the railway company for lack of speed. 
 
 Relief trains were continually on the way 
 between the valley of the Salt Lake and the 
 Missouri ; and the remnants of many a company 
 were saved from what appeared to be certain 
 destruction by the opportune arrival of these 
 rescuing parties. Such relief came from those 
 who were themselves destitute and almost starv- 
 ing. Brigham Young with a few of the chief 
 officials of the Church, and aids, returned east- 
 ward on such an errand of rescue within a few 
 weeks after first reaching the valley. The re- 
 gion to which the early settlers came was in 
 no wise a typical land of promise; it did not 
 flow spontaneously with milk and honey. 
 
 Drought and unseasonable frosts made the 
 
64 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 first year's farming experiments but doubtful 
 successes, and in the succeeding spring the land 
 was visited by the devastating plague of the 
 Rocky Mountain crickets. They swarmed down 
 in innumerable hordes upon the fields, destroy- 
 ing the growing crops as they advanced, de- 
 vouring all before them, leaving the land a 
 desert in their track. The people scarcely knew 
 how to withstand the assault of this new foe; 
 they drove the marauders into trenches there 
 to be drowned or burned; men, women and 
 every child that could swing a stick, were called 
 to the ranks in this insect war; and with all 
 their fighting, the people forgot not to pray for 
 deliverance, and they fasted, too, for the best 
 of reasons. 
 
 And as they watched, and prayed, and 
 worked, they saw approaching from the north 
 and west a veritable host of winged creatures 
 of more formidable proportions still ; and these 
 bore down upon the fields as though coming 
 to complete the devastation. But see ! these are 
 of the color that betokens peace; they are the 
 gulls, white and beautiful, advancing upon the 
 hosts of the black destroyers. Falling upon the 
 people's foes, they devoured them by the thou- 
 
The Crickets and the Gulls. 65 
 
 sand, and when filled to repletion, disgorged 
 and feasted again. And they did not stop till 
 the crickets were destroyed. Again the skeptic 
 will say this was but chance; but the people 
 accepted that chance as a providential ruling in 
 their behalf, and reverently did they give 
 thanks. 
 
 To-day the wanton killing of a gull in Utah 
 is an offense in law; but stronger than legal 
 proscription, more powerful than fear of judi- 
 cial penalties, is the popular sentiment in fa- 
 vor of :these white-winged deliverers. Every 
 year come these graceful creatures to spend the 
 springtime in the fields and upon the lakes of 
 Utah ; and right well do they feel their welcome, 
 for they are habitually so tame and fearless that 
 they may almost be touched by the hand before 
 they take flight. 
 
 By the autumn of 1848, five thousand people 
 had already reached the valley, and the food 
 problem was a most difficult one. The winter 
 was severe; and famine, stark and inexorable, 
 threw its dread shadow over the people. There 
 seemed to be an entry in the book of fate that 
 every possible test of human endurance and in- 
 tegrity should be applied to this pilgrim band. 
 
66 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 Without distinction as to former station, they 
 went out and dug the roots of weeds, gathered 
 the tenderest of the coarse grass, thistles, and 
 wild berries, and thus did they subsist; upon 
 such did they feast with thanksgiving, until a 
 less scanty harvest relieved their wants. 
 
 It was at this time that the gold fever was 
 at its height, a consequence of the discovery 
 of the precious metal in California, in which 
 discovery, indeed, certain members of the dis- 
 banded "Mormon" Battalion, working their 
 way eastward, were most prominent. Some of 
 the "Mormon" settlers, becoming infected with 
 the malady, hastened westward, but the counsel 
 of the Church authorities prevailed to keep all 
 but a few at home. These people had not left 
 the country of their birth or adoption to seek 
 gold; nor bright jewels of the mine; nor the 
 wealth of seas; nor the spoils of war; they 
 sought and believed they had found, a faith's 
 pure shrine. But the gold-seekers hastening 
 westward, and the successful miners returning 
 eastward, halted at the "Mormon" settlements 
 and there replenished their supplies, leaving 
 their gold to enrich the people of the desert. 
 
 But of what use is gold in the wilderness! 
 
Establishment of Schools. 67 
 
 In the old legend a famishing Arab, finding a 
 well filled bag upon the sand was thrilled with 
 joy at the thought of dates his bread; and 
 then was cast into the depths of despair when he 
 realized that he had found nothing but a bag 
 of costly pearls. The settlers by the lake needed 
 horses and wagons, tools, implements of hus- 
 bandry and building; and gold was valuable 
 only as it represented a means of obtaining 
 these. Gold became so plentiful and was withal 
 so worthless in the desert colony that men re- 
 fused to take it for their labor. The yellow 
 metal was collected in buckets and exported 
 to the States in exchange for the goods so much 
 desired. Merchandise brought in by caravans 
 of "prairie schooners," was sold as fast as it 
 could be put out ; and strict rules were enforced 
 allowing but a proportionate amount to each 
 purchaser. 
 
 Within a few months after the first settle- 
 ment of Utah, public schools were established ; 
 and one of the early acts of the provisional gov- 
 ernment was to grant a charter to the Deseret 
 University, now known as the University of 
 Utah. 
 
 Up to 1849, Utah had no political history. 
 
68 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 Settling in a Mexican province, the contest to 
 determine its future ownership by the United 
 States then in progress, the people in com- 
 mon with most pioneer communities established 
 their own form of government. But in Febru- 
 ary, 1848, the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo 
 gave California to the United States; months 
 passed, however, before the news of the change 
 reached the west. Early in 1849, a call had 
 been issued to "all the citizens of that portion 
 of Upper California lying to the east of the 
 Sierra Nevada mountains" to meet in conven- 
 tion at Great Salt Lake City ; and there a peti- 
 tion was prepared asking of Congress the rights 
 of self-government ; and pending action, a tem- 
 porary regime was established, under the name 
 of the Provisional Government of the State 
 of Deseret. 
 
 "Utah" was not the choice of the people as 
 the name of their state; that word served but 
 to recall the degraded tribes who had contested 
 the settlement of the valleys. Deseret, a Book 
 of Mormon name for the honey bee, was more 
 appropriate. The petition of the people was 
 denied in part, and, in 1850 was established the 
 territorial form of government in Utah. Con- 
 
Federal Appointees to Office. 69 
 
 earning the period of the provisional govern- 
 ment, such men as Gunnison, Stansbury, and 
 other federal officials on duty in the west, have 
 recorded their praises of the "Mormon" colo- 
 nists in official reports. But with the un-Ameri- 
 can system of territorial government came trou- 
 bles. 
 
 At first, many of the territorial officials were 
 appointed from among the settlers themselves; 
 thus, Brigham Young was the first governor; 
 but strangers, who knew not the people nor 
 their ways, filled with prejudice from the false 
 reports they had heard, came from the east to 
 govern the colonists in the desert. Of the fed- 
 eral appointees thus forced upon the people of 
 Utah, many made for themselves most unenvia- 
 ble records. 
 
 Some of them were broken politicians, pro- 
 fessional office-seekers, with no desire but to 
 secure the greatest possible gain out of their ap- 
 pointment. With effrontery that would shock 
 the modesty of a savage, the no n-" Mormon" 
 party adopted and flagrantly displayed the car- 
 pet-bag as the badge of their profession. But 
 not all the officials sent to Utah from afar were 
 of this type ; some of them were honorable and 
 
70 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 upright men, and amongst this class the 
 "Mormon" people reckon a number who, while 
 opposed to their religious tenets, were neverthe- 
 less sincere and honest in the opposition they 
 evinced. 
 
 In the early part of 1857, the published libels 
 upon the people received many serious ad- 
 ditions, the principal of which was promulgated 
 in connection with the resignation of Judge 
 Drummond of the Utah federal court. In his 
 last letter to the United States attorney-gen- 
 eral, he declared that his life was no longer safe 
 in Utah, and that he had been compelled to flee 
 from his bench; but the most serious charge 
 of all was that the people had destroyed the 
 records of the court, and that they had resented, 
 with hostile demonstration, his protests ; in 
 short, that justice was dethroned in Utah, and 
 that the people were in a state of open rebellion. 
 
 With mails three months apart, news traveled 
 slowly; but as soon as word of this infamous 
 charge reached Salt Lake City, the clerk of the 
 court, Judge Drummond's clerk, sent a letter 
 by express to the attorney-general, denying un- 
 der oath the judge's statements, and attesting 
 the declaration with official seal. The records, 
 
An Army Sent to Utah. 71 
 
 he declared, had been untouched except by of- 
 ficial hands, and from the time of the court's 
 establishment the files had been safe and were 
 then in his personal keeping. But, before the 
 clerk's communication had reached its des- 
 tination, so difficult is it for stately truth to 
 overtake flitting falsehood, the mischief had 
 been done. Upon the most prejudiced reports 
 utterly unfounded in fact, with a carelessness 
 which even his personal and political friends 
 found no ample means of explaining away, 
 President Buchanan allowed himself to be per- 
 suaded that a "Mormon" rebellion existed, and 
 ordered an army of over two thousand men to 
 proceed straightway to Utah to subdue the 
 rebels. Successors to the governor and other 
 territorial officials were appointed, among 
 whom there was not a single resident of Utah ; 
 and the military force was charged with the 
 duty of installing the foreign appointees. 
 
 With great dispatch and under cover of se- 
 crecy, so that the Utah rebels might be taken 
 by surprise, the army set out on the march. 
 Before the troops reached the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, the sworn statement from the clerk of 
 the supreme court of Utah denying the charges 
 
72 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 made by Judge Drummond became public 
 property; and about the same time men who 
 had come from Utah to New York direct, 
 published over their own signatures a declara- 
 tion that all was peaceful in and about the set- 
 tlements of Utah. The public eye began to 
 twitch, and soon to open wide; the conviction 
 was growing that someone had blundered. But 
 to retract would be a plain confession of er- 
 ror; blunders must be covered up. 
 
 Let us leave the soldiers on their westward 
 march, and ascertain how the news of the pro- 
 jected invasion reached the people of Utah, 
 and what effect the tidings produced. Certain 
 "Mormon" business agents, operating in Mis- 
 souri, heard of the hostile movement. At first 
 they were incredulous, but when the overland 
 mail carrier from the west delivered his pouch 
 and obtained his receipt, but was refused the 
 bag of Utah mail with the postmaster's state- 
 ment that he had been ordered to hold all mail 
 for Utah, there seemed no room for doubt. Two 
 of the Utahns immediately hastened westward. 
 
 On the 24th of July, 1857, the people had 
 assembled in celebration of Pioneer Day. Sil- 
 ver Lake, a mountain gem set amidst the snows 
 
News of the Approaching Troops. 73 
 
 and forests and towering peaks of the Cotton- 
 woods, had been selected as a fitting site for the 
 festivities. The Stars and Stripes streamed 
 above the camp; bands played; choirs sang; 
 there were speeches, and picnics, and prayers. 
 Experiences were compared as to the journey- 
 ings on the plains; stories were told of the 
 shifts to which the people had been put by 
 the vicissitudes of famine; but these dread 
 experiences seemed to them now like a dream 
 of the night ; on this day all were happy. Were 
 they not safe from savage foes both red and 
 white? There had .been peace for a season; 
 and their desert homes were already smiling 
 in wealth of flower and tree; the wilderness 
 was blossoming under their feet; their con- 
 sciences were void of offense toward their fel- 
 lows. Yet at that very hour, all unbeknown 
 to themselves, and without the opportunity of 
 speaking a word in defense, these people had 
 been convicted of insurrection and treason. 
 
 It was mid-day and the festivities were at 
 their height, when a party of men rode into 
 camp and sought an interview with Governor 
 Young. Three of them had plainly ridden 
 hard and far; they gave their report; an 
 
74 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 armed force of thousands was at that hour ap- 
 proaching the territory; the boasts of officers 
 and men as to what they would do when they 
 found themselves in "Mormon" towns were re- 
 ported ; and these stories called up, in the minds 
 of those who heard, the dread scenes of Far 
 West and Nauvoo. Had these colonists of the 
 wilderness not gone far enough to satisfy the 
 hatred of their fellow-citizens in this republic 
 of liberty? They had halted between the civ- 
 lization of the east and that of the west, they 
 had fled from the country that refused them a 
 home, and now the nation would eject them 
 from their desert lodgings. 
 
 A council was called and the situation was 
 freely discussed. Had they not seen, lo, these 
 many times, organized battalions and com- 
 panies surpassing fiendish mobs in villainy? The 
 evidence warranted their conclusion that in- 
 vasion meant massacre. With tense calmness 
 the plan of action was decided upon. It was 
 the general conviction that war was inevitable, 
 and it was decided to resist to the last. Then, 
 if the army forced its way into the valleys of 
 Utah on hostile purpose bent, it should find 
 the land as truly a desert as it was when the 
 
Preparations for Defense. 75 
 
 pioneers first took possession. To this effect 
 was the decision : We have built cities in 
 the east for our foes to occupy; our very tem- 
 ples have been desecrated and destroyed by 
 them; but, with the help of Israel's God, we 
 will prevent them enriching themselves with 
 the spoils of our labors in these mountain re- 
 treats. 
 
 There seemed to be no room for doubt that 
 war was about to break upon them; and with 
 such a prospect, men may be expected to take 
 every advantage of their situation. Brigham 
 Young was still governor of Utah, and the 
 militia was subject to his order. Promptly 
 he proclaimed the territory under martial law, 
 and forbade any armed body to cross its boun- 
 daries. Echo Canyon, the one promising 
 route of ingress, was fortified. In those de- 
 files an army might easily be stopped by a few ; 
 ammunition stations were established; provi- 
 sions were cached ; boulders were collected upon 
 the cliffs beneath which the invaders must pass 
 if they held to their purpose of forcing an 
 entrance. The people had been roused to des- 
 peration, and force was to be met with force. 
 In the settlements, combustibles were placed in 
 
76 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 readiness, and if the worst came, every "Mor- 
 mon" house would be reduced to ashes, every 
 tree would be hewn down. 
 
 With an experience of suffering that would 
 have well served a better cause, this picked de- 
 tachment of the United States army made its 
 way to the Green River country; and there, 
 counting well the cost of proceeding farther, 
 went into camp at Fort Bridger. Many of the 
 troops had almost perished in the storms, for 
 it was late in November, and the winter had 
 closed in early. Colonel Cooke reported to 
 the commandant that half his horses had per- 
 ished through cold and lack of food ; hundreds 
 of beef cattle had died; yet the region was so 
 wild and forbidding that scarcely a wolf ven- 
 tured there to glut itself upon the carcasses. In 
 Cooke's own words we read that for thirty 
 miles the road was blocked with carcasses 
 and "with abandoned and shattered property, 
 they mark, perhaps beyond example in history, 
 the steps of an advancing army with the hor- 
 rors of a disastrous retreat." 
 
 With the army traveled the new federal ap- 
 pointees to offices in the territory. Gumming, 
 the governor-to-be, issued a proclamation 
 
The Army in Winter. 77 
 
 from his dug-out lodgings, and sent it to Salt 
 Lake City by courier ; he signed it as "Governor 
 of Utah Territory." This but belittled him, 
 for by the very terms of the Organic Act, to 
 uphold which was the professed purpose of his 
 coming, he was not governor until the oath of 
 office had been duly administered and sub- 
 scribed. A few days later he went before his 
 fellow-sufferer Eckles, the appointee for chief 
 justice of Utah, and took an oath ; but why did 
 he swear so recklessly when the one before 
 whom he swore was no more an official than 
 himself? 
 
 The army wintered at a satisfactory distance 
 from Salt Lake City, and such a winter, ac- 
 cording to official reports, the soldiers of our 
 nation have rarely had to brave. It was soon ap- 
 parent that they need fear no "Mormon" attack ; 
 orders had been issued to the territorial militia 
 to take no life except in cases of absolute neces- 
 sity; but General Johnston and his staff had 
 more than their match in battling with the ele- 
 ments. Communications between Governor 
 Young and the commandant were frequent; 
 safe conduct was assured any and all officers 
 who chose to enter the city; and if necessary 
 
78 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 hostages were to be given; but the governor 
 was inexorable in his ultimatum that, as an 
 organized body with hostile purpose, the sol- 
 diers should not pass the mountain gateway. 
 In the meantime, a full account of the situation 
 was reported by Governor Young to the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, and the truth slowly 
 made its way into the eastern press. President 
 Buchanan tacitly admitted his mistake; but to 
 recall the troops at that juncture would be to 
 confess humiliating failure. 
 
 A peace commissioner, in the person of 
 Colonel Kane, was dispatched to Salt Lake 
 City; his coming being made known to Gover- 
 nor Young, an escort was sent to meet him and 
 conduct him through the "Mormon" lines. The 
 result of the conference was that the "Mor- 
 mon" leaders but reiterated their statement that 
 the President's appointees would be given safe 
 entry to the city, and be duly installed in their 
 offices, provided they would enter without the 
 army. This ultimatum was carried to the fed- 
 eral camp ; and to the open chagrin of the com- 
 mandant, Governor Cumming and his fel- 
 low appointees moved to Salt Lake City under 
 
The New Officials Installed. 79 
 
 "Mormon" escort, after a five months' halt in 
 the wilderness. 
 
 I believe that strategy is usually allowed in 
 war, and I am free to say the "Mormons" 
 availed themselves of this license. At short 
 intervals in the course of the night-passage 
 through the canyon, the party was challenged, 
 and the password demanded; bon-fires were 
 blazing down in the gorges, and the impression 
 was made that the mountains were full of 
 armed men; whereas the sentries were mem- 
 bers of the escort, who, preceding by short cuts 
 the main party, continued to challenge and to 
 pass. On their arrival, the gentlemen were 
 met by the retiring officials, and were peace- 
 ably installed. The new governor called upon 
 the clerk of the court, and ascertained the truth 
 of the statement that the records were entirely 
 safe. He promptly reported his conclusions 
 to General Johnston that there was no further 
 need for the army. It was decided, however, 
 that the soldiers should be permitted to march 
 through the city, and straightway the "Mor- 
 mons" began their exodus to the south. 
 
 Governor Cumming tried in vain to induce 
 the people to remain, assuring them that the 
 
80 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 troops would commit no depredations. "Not 
 so," said Brigham Young, "we have had ex- 
 perience with troops in the past, Governor Gum- 
 ming; we have seen our leaders shot down by 
 the demoralized soldiery ; we have seen mothers 
 with babes at their breasts sent to their last 
 home by the same bullet; we have witnessed 
 outrages beyond description. You are now 
 Governor of Utah ; we can no longer command 
 the militia for our own defense. We do not 
 wish to fight, therefore we depart." Leaving 
 a few men to apply the brand to the combusti- 
 bles stored in every house, at the first sign 
 of plunder by the soldiers, the people again 
 deserted their homes and moved into the desert 
 anew. 
 
 But the officers of the army kept their word ; 
 the troops were put into camp forty miles from 
 the settlements, and the settlers returned. The 
 President's commissioners brought the official 
 pardon, unsolicited, for all acts committed by 
 the "Mormons" in opposing the entrance of the 
 army. The people asked what they had done 
 that needed pardon ; they had not robbed, they 
 had not killed. But a critical analysis of these 
 troublous events revealed at least one overt 
 
Amnesty Granted. 81 
 
 act some "Mormon" scouts had challenged a 
 supply train ; and, being opposed, they had des- 
 troyed some of the wagons and provisions ; and 
 for this they accepted the President's most gra- 
 cious pardon. 
 
V. 
 
 AFTER all, the "Mormon" people regard 
 the advent of the Buchanan army as one 
 of the greatest material blessings ever brought 
 to them. 
 
 The troops, once in Utah, had to be pro- 
 visioned; and everything the settlers could 
 spare was eagerly bought at an unusual price. 
 The gold changed hands. Then, in their hasty 
 departure, the soldiers disposed of everything 
 outside of actual necessities in the way of accou- 
 terment and camp equipage. The army 
 found the people in poverty, and left them in 
 comparative wealth. 
 
 And what was the cause of this hurried de- 
 parture of the military? For many months, 
 ominous rumblings had been heard, indica- 
 tions of the gathering storm which was soon 
 to break in the awful fury of civil strife. It 
 could not be doubted that war was imminent; 
 already the conflict had begun, and a picked 
 part of the army was away in the western wilds, 
 
Underlying Causes. 83 
 
 doing nothing for any phase of the public 
 good. But a word further concerning the ex- 
 pedition in general. The sending of troops 
 to Utah was part of a foul scheme to weaken 
 the government in its impending struggle with 
 the secessionists. The movement has been 
 called not inaptly "Buchanan's blunder," but 
 the best and wisest .men may make blunders, 
 and whatever may be said of President Bu- 
 chanan's short-sightedness in taking this step, 
 even his enemies do not question his integrity 
 in the matter. He was unjustly charged with 
 favoring secession; but the charge was soon 
 disproved. 
 
 However, it was known that certain of his 
 cabinet were in league with the seceding states ; 
 and prominent among them was John Floyd, 
 secretary of war. The successful efforts of 
 this officer to disarm the North, while accum- 
 ulating the munitions of war in the South; to 
 scatter the forces by locating them in widely 
 separated and remote stations; and in other 
 ways to dispose of the regular army in the man- 
 ner best calculated to favor the anticipated re- 
 bellion, are matters of history. It is also told 
 how, at the commencement of the rebellion, 
 
84 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 he allied himself with the confederate forces, 
 accepting the rank of brigadier-general. It 
 was through Floyd's advice that Buchanan 
 ordered the military expedition to Utah, os- 
 tensibly to install certain federal officials and 
 to repress an alleged infantile rebellion which 
 in fact had never come into existence, but in 
 reality to further the interests of the seces- 
 sionists. When the history of that great strug- 
 gle with its antecedent and its consequent cir- 
 cumstances is written with a pen that shall in- 
 dite naught but truth, when prejudice and 
 partisanship are lived down, it may appear that 
 Jefferson Davis rather than James Buchanan 
 was the prime cause of the great mistake. 
 
 And General Johnston who commanded the 
 army in the west; he who was so vehement in 
 his denunciation of the rebel "Mormons," and 
 who rejoiced in being selected to chastise them 
 into submission; who, because of his vindic- 
 tiveness incurred the ill-favor of the governor, 
 whose posse comitatus the army was; what 
 became of him, at one time so popular that he 
 was spoken of as a likely successor to Win- 
 field Scott in the office of general-in-chief of the 
 United States army? He left Utah in the 
 
No Secession in Utah. 85 
 
 early stages of the rebellion, turned his arms 
 against the flag he had sworn to defend, doffed 
 the blue, donned the grey, and fell a rebel on 
 the field of Shiloh. 
 
 Changes many and great followed in bewil- 
 dering succession in Utah. The people were 
 besought to takes sides with the South in the 
 awful scenes of cruel strife; it was openly 
 stated in the east that Utah had allied her- 
 self with the cause of secession; and by others 
 that the design was to make Salt Lake City 
 the capital of an independent government. And 
 surely such conjectures were pardonable on the 
 part of all whose ignorance and prejudice still 
 nursed the delusion of "Mormon" disloyalty. 
 Moreover, had the people been inclined to re- 
 bellion what greater opportunity could they 
 have wished? Already a North and a South 
 were talked of why not set up also a West? 
 A supreme opportunity had come and how was 
 it used? It was at this very time that the 
 Overland Telegraph line, which had been ap- 
 proaching from the Atlantic and the Pacific, 
 was completed, and the first tremor felt in that 
 nerve of steel carried these words from Brig- 
 ham Young: 
 
86 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 Utah has not seceded, but is firm for the con- 
 stitution and laws of our country. 
 
 The "Mormon" people saw in their terrible 
 experiences and in the outrages to which they 
 had been subjected, only the mal-administra- 
 tion of laws and the subversion of justice 
 through human incapacity and hatred. Never 
 even for a moment did they question the su- 
 preme authority and the inspired origin of the 
 constitution of their land. They knew no 
 North, no South, no East, no West ; they stood 
 positively by the constitution, and would have 
 nothing to do in the bloody strife between 
 brothers, unless indeed they were summoned 
 by the authority to which they had already once 
 loyally responded, to furnish men and arms 
 for their country's need. 
 
 Following the advent of the telegraph came 
 the railway; and the land of "Mormondom" 
 was no longer isolated. Her resources were 
 developed, her wealth became a topic of the 
 world's wonder; the tide of immigration 
 swelled her population, contributing much of 
 the best from all the civilized nations of the 
 earth. Every reader of recent and current 
 
Utah Becomes a State. 87 
 
 history has learned of her rapid growth; of 
 her repeated appeals for the recognition to 
 which she had so long been entitled in the sis- 
 terhood of states; of the prompt refusals with 
 which her pleas were persistently met, though 
 other territories with smaller and more illit- 
 erate populations, more restricted resources, 
 and in every way weaker claims, were allowed 
 to assume the habiliments of maturity, while 
 Utah, lusty, large and strong, was kept in 
 swaddling clothes. But the cries of the vigor- 
 ous infant were at length heeded, and in an- 
 swer to the seventh appeal of the kind, Utah's 
 star was added to the nation's galaxy. 
 
 But let us turn more particularly to the his- 
 tory of the Church itself. For a second time 
 and thrice thereafter, the Church of Jesus Christ 
 of Latter-day Saints has been deprived of 
 its president, and on each occasion were reiter- 
 ated the prophecies of disruption uttered at the 
 time of Joseph Smith's assassination. Calm 
 observers declared that as the shepherd had 
 gone, the flock would soon be dispersed; while 
 others, comparable only to wolves, thinking 
 the fold unguarded, sought to harry and scat- 
 ter the sheep. But "Mormonism" died not; 
 
88 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 every added pang of grief served but to unite 
 the people. 
 
 When Brigham Young passed from earth, 
 he was mourned of the people as deeply as was 
 Moses of Israel. And had he not proved him- 
 self a Moses, aye and a Joshua, too ? He had 
 led the people into the land of holy promise, 
 and had divided unto them their inheritances. 
 He was a man with clear title as one of the 
 small brotherhood we call great. As carpenter, 
 farmer, pioneer, capitalist, financier, preacher, 
 apostle, prophet in everything he was a lead- 
 er among men. Even those who opposed him 
 in politics and in religion respected him for 
 his talents, his magnanimity, his liberality, and 
 his manliness; and years after his demise, men 
 who had refused him honor while alive 
 brought their mites and their gold to erect a 
 monument of stone and bronze to the memory 
 of this man who needs it not. With his death 
 closed another epoch in the history of his peo- 
 ple, and a successor arose, one who was capa- 
 ble of leading and judging under the changed 
 conditions. 
 
 But perhaps I am suspected of having for- 
 
Celestial Marriage. 89 
 
 gotten or of having intentionally omitted ref- 
 erence to what popular belief once considered 
 the chief feature of "Mormonism," the corner- 
 stone of the structure, the secret of its influence 
 over its members, and of its attractiveness to 
 its proselytes, viz., the peculiarity of the "Mor- 
 mon" institution of marriage. The Latter-day 
 Saints were long regarded as a polygamous 
 people. That plural marriage has been prac- 
 tised by a limited proportion of the people, 
 under sanction of Church ordinance, has never 
 since the introduction of the system been de- 
 nied. But that plural marriage is a vital tenet 
 of the Church is not true. What the Latter- 
 day Saints call celestial marriage is character- 
 istic of the Church, and is in very general prac- 
 tise; but of celestial marriage, plurality of 
 wives was an incident, never an essential. Yet 
 the two have often been confused in the pop- 
 ular mind. 
 
 We believe in a literal resurrection and an 
 actual hereafter, in which future state shall be 
 recognized every sanctified and authorized re- 
 lationship existing here on earth of parent 
 and child, brother and sister, husband and wife. 
 We believe, further that contracts as of mar- 
 
90 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 riage, to be valid beyond the veil of mortality 
 must be sanctioned by a power greater than that 
 of earth. With the seal of the holy Priesthood 
 upon their wedded state, these people believe 
 implicitly in the perpetuity of that relationship 
 on the far side of the grave. They marry not 
 with the saddening limitation "Until death do 
 you part/' but "For time and for all eternity."* 
 This constitutes celestial marriage. The thought 
 that plural marriage has ever been the head 
 and front of "Mormon" offending, that to it 
 is traceable as the true cause the hatred of other 
 sects and the unpopularity of the Church, is 
 not tenable to the earnest thinker. Sad as 
 have been the experiences of the people in con- 
 sequence of this practise, deep and anguish- 
 laden as have been the sighs and groans, hot 
 and bitter as have been the tears so caused, the 
 heaviest persecution, the cruelest treatment of 
 their history began before plural marriage was 
 known in the Church. 
 
 There is no sect nor people that sets a higher 
 value on virtue and chastity than do the Latter- 
 
 *For treatment of Celestial Marriage and other Tem- 
 ple ordinances, see "The House of the Lord," by the 
 present author, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1912. 
 
Inception of Plural Marriage. 91 
 
 day Saints, nor a people that visits surer retri- 
 bution upon the heads of offenders against the 
 laws of sexual purity. To them marriage is 
 not, can never be, a civil compact alone ; its sig- 
 nificance reaches beyond the grave; its obliga- 
 tions are eternal ; and the Latter-day Saints 
 are notable for the sanctity with which they 
 invest the marital state. It has been my priv- 
 ilege to tread the soil of many lands, to observe 
 the customs and study the habits of more na- 
 tions than one ; and I have yet to find the place 
 and meet the people, where and with whom the 
 purity of man and woman is held more precious 
 than among the maligned "Mormons" in the 
 mountain valleys of the west. There I find this 
 measure of just equality of the sexes that the 
 sins of man shall not be visited upon the head of 
 woman. 
 
 At the inception of plural marriage among 
 the Latter-day Saints, there was no law, na- 
 tional or state, against its practise. This state- 
 ment assumes, as granted, a distinction between 
 bigamy and the "Mormon" institution of plural 
 marriage. In 1862, a law was enacted with 
 the purpose of suppressing plural marriage, and, 
 as had been predicted in the national Senate 
 
92 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 prior to its passage, it lay for many years a dead 
 letter. Federal judges and United States at- 
 torneys in Utah, who were not "Mormons" nor 
 lovers of "Mormonism," refused to entertain 
 complaints or prosecute cases under the law, be- 
 cause of its manifest injustice and inadequacy. 
 But other laws followed, most of which, as 
 the Latter-day Saints believe, were aimed di- 
 rectly at their religious conception of the mar- 
 riage contract, and not at social impropriety nor 
 sexual offense. 
 
 At last the Edmunds-Tucker act took effect, 
 making not the marriage alone but the subse- 
 quent acknowledging of the contract an offense 
 punishable by fine or imprisonment or both. 
 Under the spell of unrighteous zeal, the federal 
 judiciary of Utah announced and practised that 
 most infamous doctrine of segregation of of- 
 fenses with accumulating penalties. 
 
 I who write have listened to judges instruct- 
 ing grand juries in such terms as these: that 
 although the law of Congress designated as an 
 offense the acknowledging of more living wives 
 than one by any man, and prescribed a penalty 
 therefor, as Congress had not specified the 
 length of time during which this unlawful ac- 
 
Infamous Segregation Doctrine. 93 
 
 knowledging must continue to constitute the 
 offense, grand juries might indict separately for 
 every day of the period during which the for- 
 bidden relationship existed. This meant that 
 for an alleged misdemeanor for which Con- 
 gress prescribed a maximum penalty of six 
 months' imprisonment and a fine of three hun- 
 dred dollars a man might be imprisoned for 
 life, aye, for many terms of a man's natural life 
 did the court's power to enforce its sentences 
 extend so far, and might be fined millions of 
 dollars. Before this travesty on the adminis- 
 tration of law could be brought before the court 
 of last resort, and there meet with the reversal 
 and rebuke it deserved, men were imprisoned 
 under sentences of many years' duration. 
 
 The people contested these measures one by 
 one in the courts; presenting in case after case 
 the different phases of the subject, and urging 
 the unconstitutionality of the measure. Then 
 the Church was disincorporated, and its prop- 
 erty both real and personal confiscated and 
 escheated to the government of the United 
 States ; and although the personal property was 
 soon restored, real estate of great value long 
 lay in the hands of the court's receiver, and the 
 
94 The Story of "Mormonism." 
 
 "Mormon" Church had to pay the national gov- 
 ernment high rental on its own property. But 
 the people have suspended the practise of plural 
 marriage; and the testimony of the governors, 
 judges, and district attorneys of the territory, 
 and later that of the officers of the state, have 
 declared the sincerity of the renunciation. 
 
 As the people had adopted the practise under 
 what was believed to be divine approval, they 
 suspended it when they were justified in so do- 
 ing. In whatever light this practise has been 
 regarded in the past, it is today a dead issue, 
 forbidden by ecclesiastical rule as it is prohib- 
 ited by legal statute. And the world is learn- 
 ing, to its manifest surprise, that plural mar- 
 riage and "Mormonism" are not synonymous 
 terms. 
 
 And so the story of "Mormonism" runs on; 
 its finale has not yet been written; the current 
 press presents continuously new stages of its 
 progress, new developments of its plan. Today 
 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 
 is stronger than ever before ; and the people are 
 confident that it is at its weakest stage for all 
 
"Mormonism" Destined to Live. 95 
 
 time to come. It lives and thrives because with- 
 in it are the elements of thrift and the forces 
 of life. It embraces a boundless liberality of 
 belief and practise ; true toleration is one of its 
 essential features; it makes love for mankind 
 second only to love for Deity. Its creed pro- 
 vides for the protection of all men in their rights 
 of worship according to the dictates of con- 
 science. It contemplates a millennium of peace, 
 when every man shall love his neighbor and re- 
 spect his neighbor's opinion as he regards him- 
 self and his own a day when the voice of the 
 people shall be in unison with the voice of God. 
 
The Philosophy of "Mormonism 
 
The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 I. 
 
 IN this attempt to treat the philosophy of 
 "Mormonism" it is assumed that no discus- 
 sion of Christianity in general nor of the philos- 
 ophy of Christianity is required. The "Mor- 
 mon" creed, so far as there is a creed professed 
 by the Latter-day Saints, is pre-eminently Chris- 
 tian in theory, precept, and practise. In what 
 respect, then, may be properly asked, does 
 "Mormonism" differ from the faith and prac- 
 tise of other professedly Christian systems in 
 short, what is "Mormonism?" 
 
 First, let it be remembered that the term 
 "Mormon," with its derivatives, is not the offi- 
 cial designation of the Church with which it is 
 usually associated. The name was originally 
 applied in a spirit of derision, as a nick-name 
 in fact, by the opponents of the Church; and 
 was doubtless suggested by the title of a promi- 
 nent publication given to the world through 
 Joseph Smith in an early period of the Church's 
 
100 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 history. This, of course, is the Book of Mor- 
 mon. Nevertheless, the people have accepted 
 the name thus thrust upon them, and answer 
 readily to its call. The proper title of the or- 
 ganization is "The Church of Jesus Christ of 
 Latter-day Saints." The philosophy of "Mor- 
 monism" is declared in the name. The people 
 claim this name as having been bestowed by 
 revelation and therefore that, like other names 
 given of God as attested by scriptural instances, 
 it is at once name and title combined. 
 
 The Church declines to sail under any flag 
 of man-made design ; it repudiates the name of 
 mortals as a part of its title, and thus differs 
 from Lutherans and Wesleyans, Calvinists, 
 Mennonites, and many others, all of whom, 
 worthy though their organizations may be, ele- 
 vating as may be their precepts, good as may 
 be their practises, declare themselves the fol- 
 lowers of men. This is not the church of 
 Moses nor the prophets, of Paul nor of Cephas, 
 of Apollos nor of John ; neither of Joseph Smith 
 nor of Brigham Young. It asserts its proud 
 claim as the Church of Jesus Christ. 
 
 It refuses to wear a name indicative of dis- 
 tinctive or peculiar doctrines; and in this par- 
 
The Articles of Faith. 101 
 
 ticular, it differs from churches Catholic and 
 Protestant, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, 
 Unitarian, Methodist and Baptist; its sole dis- 
 tinguishing features are those of the Church of 
 Christ. 
 
 In an effort to present in concise form the 
 cardinal doctrines of this organization, I can- 
 not do better than quote the so-called "Articles 
 of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat- 
 ter-day Saints," which have been in published 
 form before the world for over half a century.* 
 
 1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, 
 and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 2. We believe that men will be punished for 
 their own sins, and not for Adam's transgres- 
 sion. 
 
 3. We believe that, through the atonement 
 of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obe- 
 dience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. 
 
 4. We believe that the first principles and 
 ordinances of the gospel are: First, Faith in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; 
 
 *For extended treatment of "Mormon" doctrine 
 see "The Articles of Faith; a Series of Lectures on 
 the Principal Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ 
 of Latter-day Saints," by James E. Talmage. Pub- 
 lished by the Church: Salt Lake City, Utah; 485 pp. 
 
102 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 third, Baptism by immersion for the remission 
 of sins ; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift 
 of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 5. We believe that a man must be called of 
 God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of 
 hands, by those who are in authority, to preach 
 the gospel and administer in the ordinances 
 thereof. 
 
 6. We believe in the same organization that 
 existed in the primitive church, namely, apos- 
 tles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc. 
 
 7. We believe in the gift of tongues, proph- 
 ecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation 
 of tongues, etc. 
 
 8. We believe the Bible to be the word of 
 God, as far as it is translated correctly ; we also 
 believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of 
 God. 
 
 9. We believe all that God has revealed, all 
 that he does now reveal, and we believe that he 
 will yet reveal many great and important things 
 pertaining to the Kingdom of God. 
 
 10. We believe in the literal gathering of 
 Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes ; 
 that Zion will be built upon this [the American] 
 continent ; that Christ will reign personally upon 
 the earth, and that the earth will be renewed and 
 receive its paradisiacal glory. 
 
 11. We claim the privilege of worshiping 
 Almighty God according to the dictates of our 
 
Brief Summary of Doctrine. 103 
 
 own conscience, and allow all men the same 
 privilege, let them worship how, where, or what 
 they may. 
 
 12. We believe in being subject to kings, 
 presidents, rulers and magistrates, in obeying, 
 honoring and sustaining the law. 
 
 13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, 
 benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all 
 men ; indeed we may say that we follow the ad- 
 monition of Paul, We believe all things, we 
 hope all things, we have endured many things, 
 and hope to be able to endure all things. If 
 there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good 
 report or praiseworthy, we seek after these 
 things. JOSEPH SMITH. 
 
 This brief summary of "Mormon" doctrine 
 appears over the signature of Joseph Smith the 
 man whom the Latter-day Saints accept as the 
 instrument in divine hands of re-establishing 
 the Church of Christ on earth, in this the Dis- 
 pensation of the Fulness of Times. Let it not 
 be supposed, however, that these Articles of 
 Faith are, or profess to be, a complete code of 
 the doctrines of the Church, for, as declared in 
 one of the "Articles," belief in continuous reve- 
 lation from Heaven is a characteristic feature 
 of "Mormonism." Yet it is to be noted that no 
 
104 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 doctrine has been promulgated, which by even 
 strained interpretation could be construed as 
 antagonistic to this early declaration of faith. 
 Nor has any revelation to the Church yet ap- 
 peared in opposition to earlier revelation of this 
 or of by-gone dispensations. 
 
 To most of the declarations in the Articles of 
 Faith, many sects professing Christianity could 
 confidently pledge allegiance ; to many of them, 
 all Christian organizations could and profess- 
 edly do subscribe. Belief in the existence and 
 powers of the Supreme Trinity ; in Jesus Christ 
 as the Savior and Redeemer of mankind; in 
 man's individual accountability for his doings; 
 in the acceptance of sacred writ as the Word of 
 God; in the rights of worship according to the 
 dictates of conscience ; in all the moral virtues ; 
 these professions and beliefs are as a common 
 creed in the realm of Christendom. There is 
 no peculiarly "Mormon" interpretation, in the 
 light of which these principles of faith and prac- 
 tise are viewed by the Latter-day Saints, except 
 in a certain simplicity and literalness of accept- 
 ance gross literalness, unrefined materialism, 
 it has been called by some critical opponents. 
 
 The gospel plan as accepted and taught by 
 
Simplicity of Doctrine. 105 
 
 the Latter-day Saints is strikingly simple; dis- 
 appointing in its simplicity, indeed, to the mind 
 that can find satisfaction in mysteries alone, and 
 to him whose love for metaphor, symbolism, 
 and imagery are stronger than his devotion to 
 truth itself, which may or may not be thus em- 
 bellished. The Church asserts that the wisdom 
 of human learning, while ranking among the 
 choicest of earthly possessions, is not essential 
 to an understanding of the gospel ; and that the 
 preacher of the Word must be otherwise en- 
 dowed than by the learning of the schoolmen. 
 "Mormonism" is for the wayfaring man, not 
 less than for the scholar, and it possesses a sim- 
 plicity adapting it to the one as to the other. A 
 few of the characteristically "Mormon" tenets 
 may perhaps be profitably considered. 
 
 "Mormonism" affirms its unqualified belief in 
 the Godhead as the Holy Trinity, comprising 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; each of the three 
 a separate and individual personage ; the Father 
 and the Son each a personage of spirit and of 
 immortalized body; the Holy Ghost a person- 
 age of spirit. 
 
 The unity of the Godhead is accepted in the 
 literal fulness of scriptural declaration that 
 
106 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 the three are one in purpose, plan and method , 
 alike in all their Godly attributes; one in their 
 divine omniscience and omnipotence ; yet as sep- 
 arate and distinct in their personality as are any 
 three inhabitants of earth. "Mormonism" 
 claims that scriptures declaring the oneness of 
 the Trinity admit of this interpretation; that 
 such indeed is the natural interpretation; and 
 that the conception is in accord with reason. 
 
 We hold that mankind are literally the spir- 
 itual children of God; that even as the Christ 
 had an existence with the Father before coming 
 to earth to take upon himself a tabernacle of 
 flesh, to live and to die as a man in accordance 
 with the fore-ordained plan of redemption, so, 
 too, every child of earth had an existence in the 
 spirit-state before entering upon this mortal 
 probation. We hold the doctrine to be reason- 
 able, scriptural and true, that mortal birth is no 
 more the beginning of the soul's existence than 
 is death its end. 
 
 The time-span of mortal life is but one stage 
 in the soul's career, separating the eternity that 
 has preceded from the eternity that is to follow. 
 And this mortal existence is one of the Father's 
 great gifts to his spiritual children, affording 
 
Free Agency of Man. 107 
 
 them the opportunity of an untrammeled ex- 
 ercise of their free agency, the privilege of 
 meeting temptation and of resisting it if they 
 will, the chance to win exaltation and eternal 
 life. 
 
 We claim that all men are equal as to earthly 
 rights and human privileges ; but that each has 
 individual capacity and capabilities ; that in the 
 primeval world there were spirits noble and 
 great, as there were others of lesser power and 
 inferior purpose. There is no chance in the 
 number or nature of spirits that are born to 
 earth; all who are entitled to the privileges of 
 mortality and have been assigned to this sphere 
 shall come at the time appointed, and shall re- 
 turn to inherit each the glory or the degradation 
 to which he has shown himself adapted. The 
 gospel as understood by the Latter-day Saints 
 affirms the unconditional free-agency of man 
 his right to accept good or evil, to choose the 
 means of eternal progression or the opposite, to 
 worship as he elects, or to refuse to worship at 
 all and then to take the consequences of his 
 choice. 
 
 "Mormonism" rejects what it regards as a 
 heresy, the false doctrine of pre-destination as 
 
108 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 an absolute compulsion or even as an irresistible 
 tendency forced upon the individual toward 
 right or wrong as a pre-appointment to event- 
 ual exaltation or condemnation; yet it affirms 
 that the infinite wisdom and fore-knowledge of 
 God makes plain to him the end from the begin- 
 ning; and that he can read in the natures and 
 dispositions of his children, their destiny. 
 
 "Mormonism" claims an actual and literal re- 
 lationship of parent and child between the Crea- 
 tor and man not in the figurative sense in 
 which the engine may be called the child of its 
 builder ; not the relationship of a thing mechan- 
 ically made to the maker thereof; but the kin- 
 ship of father and offspring. In short it is bold 
 enough to declare that man's spirit being the 
 offspring of Deity, and man's body though of 
 earthy components yet being in the very image 
 and likeness of God, man even in his present de- 
 graded aye, fallen condition still possesses, 
 if only in a latent state, inherited traits, tenden- 
 cies and powers that tell of his more than royal 
 descent ; and that these may be developed so as 
 to make him, even while mortal, in a measure 
 Godlike. 
 
 But "Mormonism" is bolder yet. It asserts 
 
Eternal Progression of Man. 109 
 
 that in accordance with the inviolable law of or- 
 ganic nature that like shall beget like, and that 
 multiplication of numbers and perpetuation of 
 species shall be in compliance with the condi- 
 tion "each after his kind," the child may achieve 
 the former status of the parent, and that in his 
 mortal condition man is a God in embryo. How- 
 ever far in the future it may be, what ages may 
 elapse, what eternities may pass before any in- 
 dividual now a mortal being may attain the rank 
 and sanctity of godship, man nevertheless car- 
 ries in his soul the possibilities of such achieve- 
 ment; even as the crawling caterpillar or the 
 corpse-like chrysalis holds the latent possibility, 
 nay, barring destruction, the certainty indeed, 
 of the winged imago in all the glory of ma- 
 turity. 
 
 "Mormonism" claims that all nature, both on 
 earth and in heaven, operates on a plan of ad- 
 vancement; that the very Eternal Father is a 
 progressive Being ; that his perfection, while so 
 complete as to be incomprehensible by man, pos- 
 sesses this essential quality of true perfection 
 the capacity of eternal increase. That there- 
 fore, in the far future, beyond the horizon of 
 eternities perchance, man may attain the status 
 
1 10 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 of a God. Yet this does not mean that he shall 
 be then the equal of the Deity he now worships 
 nor that he shall ever overtake those intelli- 
 gences that are already beyond him in advance- 
 ment ; for to assert such would be to argue that 
 there is no progression beyond a certain stage 
 of attainment, and that advancement is a char- 
 acteristic of low organization and inferior pur- 
 pose alone. We believe that there was more 
 than the sounding of brass or the tinkling of 
 wordy cymbals in the fervent admonition of the 
 Christ to his followers "Be ye therefore per- 
 fect, even as your Father which is in heaven is 
 perfect." (Matt. 5:48.) 
 
 But it is beyond dispute that in his present 
 state, man is far from the condition of even a 
 relatively perfect being. He is born heir to the 
 weaknesses as well as to the excellencies of gen- 
 erations of ancestors ; he inherits potent tenden- 
 cies for both good and evil ; and verily, it seems 
 that in the flesh he has to suffer for the sins of 
 his progenitors. But divine blessings are not to 
 be reckoned in terms of earthly possessions or 
 bodily excellencies alone; the child born under 
 conditions of adversity may after all be richly 
 endowed with opportunity, opportunity which, 
 
The Fall of Man. Ill 
 
 perhaps, had been less of service amid the sur- 
 roundings of luxury. We hold that the Father 
 has an individual interest in his children; and 
 that surely in the rendering of divine judgment, 
 the conditions under which each soul has lived 
 in mortality shall be considered. 
 
 "Mormonism" accepts the doctrine of the 
 Fall, and the account of the transgression in 
 Eden, as set forth in Genesis ; but it affirms that 
 none but Adam is or shall be answerable for 
 Adam's disobedience; that mankind in general 
 are absolutely absolved from responsibility 
 for that "original sin," and that each shall ac- 
 count for his own transgressions alone ; that the 
 Fall was foreknown of God that it was turned 
 to good effect by which the necessary condition 
 of mortality should be inaugurated ; and that a 
 Redeemer was provided, before the world was ; 
 that general salvation, in the sense of redemp- 
 tion from the effects of the Fall, comes to all 
 without their seeking it; but that individual sal- 
 vation or rescue from the effects of personal sins 
 is to be acquired by each for himself by faith 
 and good works through the redemption 
 wrought by Jesus Christ. The Church holds 
 that children are born to earth in a sinless state, 
 
1 12 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 that they need no individual redemption; that 
 should they die before reaching years of ac- 
 countability, they return without taint of earth- 
 ly sin; but as they attain youth or maturity in 
 the flesh, their responsibility increases with their 
 development. 
 
 According to the teachings of "Mormonism," 
 Christ's instructions to the people to pray "Thy 
 Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it 
 is in heaven" was not a petition for the impossi- 
 ble, but a fore-shadowing of what shall event- 
 ually be. We believe that the day shall yet 
 come when the Kingdom of God on earth shall 
 be one with the Kingdom in heaven; and one 
 King shall rule in both. The Church is re- 
 garded as the beginning of this Kingdom on 
 earth; though until the coming of the King, 
 there is no authority in the Church exercising 
 or claiming temporal rule or dominion among 
 the governments of earth. Yet the Church is 
 none the less the beginning of the Kingdom, the 
 germ from which the Kingdom shall develop. 
 
 And the Church must be in direct communi- 
 cation with the heavenly Kingdom of which the 
 earthly Kingdom when established shall be a 
 part. Of such a nature was the Church in so 
 
Revelation to the Prophets. 113 
 
 far as it existed before the time of Christ's 
 earthly ministry; for the biblical record is re- 
 plete with instances of direct communication be- 
 tween the prophets and their God. The scrip- 
 tures are silent as to a single dispensation in 
 which the spiritual leaders of the people de- 
 pended upon the records of earlier times and 
 by-gone ages for their guidance ; but on the con- 
 trary, the evidence is complete that in every 
 stage of the Church's history the God of heaven 
 communicated his mind and will unto his earth- 
 ly representatives. Israel of old were led and 
 governed in all matters spiritual and to a great 
 extent in their temporal affairs by the direct 
 word of revelation. Noah did not depend upon 
 the record of God's dealings with Adam or 
 Enoch, but was directed by the very word and 
 voice of the God whom he represented. Moses 
 was no mere theologian trained for his author- 
 ity or acts on what God had said to Abraham, 
 to Isaac, or to Jacob; he acted in accordance 
 with instructions given unto him from time to 
 time, as the circumstances of his ministry re- 
 quired. And so on through all the line of 
 prophets, major and minor, down to the priest 
 of the course of Abia unto whom the angel an- 
 
1 14 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 nounced the birth of John who was to be the 
 direct fore-runner of the Messiah. 
 
 When the Christ came in the flesh he de- 
 clared that he acted not of himself but accord- 
 ing to instructions given him of the Father. 
 Thus the Messiah was a revelator, receiving 
 while in the flesh communication direct and fre- 
 quent from the heavens. By such revelation 
 he was guided in his earthly ministry ; by such 
 he instructed his disciples ; unto such he taught 
 his apostles to look for safe guidance when he 
 would have left them. 
 
 During his earthly ministry Christ called and 
 ordained men to offices in the Church. We 
 have a record of apostles particularly, number- 
 ing twelve, and beside these, seventy others who 
 were commissioned to preach, teach, baptize and 
 perform other ordinances of the Church. After 
 our Lord's departure, we read of the apostles 
 continuing their labors in the light of continued 
 revelation. By this sure guide they selected 
 and set apart those who were to officiate in the 
 Church. By revelation, Peter was directed to 
 carry the gospel to the Gentiles; which expan- 
 sion of the work was inaugurated by the con- 
 version of the devout Cornelius and his house- 
 
Revelation Necessary Today. 115 
 
 hold. By revelation, Saul of Tarsus became 
 Paul the Apostle, a valiant defender of the 
 faith. Holy men of old spake and wrote as 
 they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost and 
 depended not upon the precedents of ancient 
 history nor entirely upon the law then already 
 written. They operated under the conviction 
 that the living Church must be in communica- 
 tion with its living Head ; and that the work of 
 God, while it was to be wrought out through 
 the instrumentality of man, was to be directed 
 by him whose work it was, and is. 
 
 "Mormonism" claims the same necessity to 
 exist today. It holds that it is no more nearly 
 possible now than it was in the days of the an- 
 cient prophets or in the apostolic age for the 
 Church of Christ to exist without direct and 
 continuous revelation from God. This necessi- 
 tates the existence and authorized ministrations 
 of prophets, apostles, high priests, seventies, 
 elders, bishops, priests, teachers and deacons, 
 now as anciently not men selected by men 
 without authority, clothed by human ceremonial 
 alone, nor men with the empty names of office, 
 but men who bear the title because they possess 
 the authority, having been called of God. 
 
1 16 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 Is it unreasonable, is it unphilosophical, thus 
 to look for additional light and knowledge? 
 Shall religion be the one department of human 
 thought and effort in which progression is im- 
 possible? What would we say of the chemist, 
 the astronomer, the physicist, or the geologist, 
 who would proclaim that no further discovery 
 or revelation of scientific truth is possible, or 
 who would declare that the only occupation 
 open to students of science is to con the books 
 of by-gone times and to apply the principles 
 long ago made known, since none others shall 
 ever be discovered? 
 
 The chief motive impelling to research and 
 investigation is the conviction that to knowledge 
 and wisdom there is no end. "Mormonism" 
 affirms that all wisdom is of God, that the halo 
 of his glory is intelligence, and that man has not 
 yet learned all there is to learn of him and his 
 ways. We hold that the doctrine of continuous 
 revelation from God is not less philosophical 
 and scientific than .scriptural. 
 
II. 
 
 THE Latter-day Saints affirm that the au- 
 thority to act in the name of God the 
 Holy Priesthood has been restored to earth in 
 this dispensation and age, in accordance with 
 the inspired predictions of earlier times. But, 
 it may be asked, what necessity was there for a 
 restoration if the Priesthood had been once es- 
 tablished upon earth? None indeed, had it 
 never been taken away. A general apostasy 
 from the primitive Church is conceded in effect 
 by some authorities in ecclesiastical history; 
 though few admit the entire discontinuance of 
 priestly power, or the full suspension of author- 
 ity to operate in the ordinances of the Church. 
 This great apostasy was foretold. Paul warned 
 the Saints of Thessalonica against those who 
 claimed that the second coming of Christ was 
 then near at hand : "For," said he, "that day shall 
 not come except there come a falling away 
 first." (II Thess. 2:3.) "Mormonism" contends 
 that there has been a general falling away from 
 the Church of Christ, dating from the time im- 
 mediately following the apostolic period. We 
 
1 18 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 believe that the proper interpretation of history 
 will confirm this view ; and, moreover, that the 
 inspired scriptures foretold just such a condi- 
 tion.* 
 
 If the Priesthood had been once taken from 
 the earth no human power could re-establish it ; 
 the restoration of this authority from heaven 
 would be necessary. The Church claims that 
 in the present age this restoration has been 
 effected by the personal ministrations of those 
 who exercised the authority in earlier dispensa- 
 tions. Thus, in 1829, Joseph Smith and Oliver 
 Cowdery received the Lesser or Aaronic Priest- 
 hood under the hands of John the Baptist, who 
 visited them as a resurrected being the same 
 Baptist who by special and divine commission 
 held the authority of that Priesthood in the dis- 
 pensation of the "Meridian of Time." Later, 
 the Higher or Melchizedek Priesthood was con- 
 ferred upon them through the personal minis- 
 trations of Peter, James, and John the same 
 three who constituted the presidency of the 
 apostolic body in the primitive Church, after 
 
 *See "The Great Apostasy; Considered in the 
 
 Light of Scriptural and Secular History," by James 
 
 E. Talmage. Published by the Deseret News, Salt 
 Lake City, Utah; 176 pp. 
 
Holy Priesthood Restored. 1 19 
 
 the departure of the Lord Jesus Christ by whom 
 it was founded. 
 
 That the claim is a bold one is conceded with- 
 out argument. The Church of Jesus Christ of 
 Latter-day Saints professes to have the Priest- 
 hood of old restored in its fulness; and, more- 
 over, while acknowledging the right of every 
 individual as of every sect or other organiza- 
 tion of individuals to believe and practise ac- 
 cording to choice in matters religious, it affirms 
 that it is the only Church on the face of the 
 earth possessing this authority and Priesthood ; 
 and that therefore it is The Church and the only 
 Church of Christ upon the earth today. It 
 holds as absolutely indispensable to proper 
 Church organization, the presence of the living 
 oracles of God who shall be directed from the 
 heavens in their earthly ministry; and these, 
 "Mormonism" asserts, are to be found with the 
 Church of Jesus Christ. 
 
 "Mormonism" emphasizes the doctrine that 
 that which is Caesar's be given unto Caesar, 
 while that which is God's be rendered unto him.. 
 Therefore, it teaches that all things pertaining 
 unto earth, and unto man's earthly affairs, may 
 \vith propriety be regulated by earthly author- 
 
120 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 ity, but that in the performance of any ordi- 
 nance, rite, or ceremony, claimed to be of effect 
 beyond the grave, a power greater than that of 
 man is requisite or the performance is void. 
 Therefore, membership in the Church, which, 
 if of any value and significance at all, is of more 
 than temporal meaning, must be governed by 
 laws which are prescribed by the powers of 
 heaven. "Mormonism" recognizes Jesus Christ 
 as the head of the Church, as the literal Savior 
 and Redeemer of mankind, as the King of kings 
 and Lord of lords, as the One whose right it is 
 to reign on earth, who shall yet subdue all 
 worldly kingdoms under his feet, who shall 
 present the earth in its final state of redemption 
 to the Father. It is his right to prescribe the 
 conditions under which mankind may be made 
 partakers of his bounty and of the privileges of 
 the victory won by him over death and the 
 grave. 
 
 The Church claims that faith in God is essen- 
 tial to intelligent service of him ; and that faith, 
 trust, confidence in God as the Father of man- 
 kind, as the Supreme Being to whom all shall 
 render account of their deeds and misdeeds, 
 must lead to a desire to serve him and thus pro- 
 
Faith, Repentance, Baptism. 121 
 
 duce repentance. Faith in God and genuine re- 
 pentance of sin, of necessity, therefore consti- 
 tute the fundamental principles of the gospel. 
 It is reasonable to expect that after man has de- 
 veloped faith in God, and has repented of his 
 sins, he will be eager to find a means of demon- 
 strating his sincerity; and this means is found 
 in the requirement concerning baptism as essen- 
 tial to entrance into the Church, and as a means 
 whereby remission of sins may be obtained. As 
 to the mode of baptism, the Church affirms that 
 immersion alone is the one method sanctioned 
 by scripture, and that this mode has been ex- 
 pressly prescribed by revelation in the present 
 dispensation. 
 
 Water baptism, then, becomes a basic prin- 
 ciple and the first essential ordinance of the gos- 
 pel. It is to be administered by one having au- 
 thority; and that authority rests in the Priest- 
 hood given of God. Following baptism by 
 water, comes the ordinance of the bestowal of 
 the Holy Ghost by the authorized imposition of 
 hands, which constitutes the true baptism of the 
 Spirit. These requirements, designated spe- 
 cifically the "first principles and ordinances of 
 the gospel," "Mormonism" claims to be abso- 
 
122 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 lutely essential to membership in the Church of 
 Christ, and this without modification or qualifi- 
 cation as to the time at which the individual 
 lived in mortality. 
 
 Then with propriety it may be asked : What 
 shall become of those who lived and died while 
 the Priesthood was not operative upon the 
 earth ? those who have worked out their mor- 
 tal probation during the ages of the great apos- 
 tasy? Furthermore, what shall be the destiny 
 of those who, though living in a time of spir- 
 itual light, perhaps had not the opportunity of 
 learning and obeying the gospel requirements? 
 Here again the inherent justice of "Mormon" 
 philosophy shows itself in the doctrine of salva- 
 tion for the dead. t No distinction is made be- 
 tween the living and the dead in the solemn 
 declaration of the Savior to Nicodemus, which 
 appears to have been given the widest possible 
 application, that except a man be born of 
 water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the 
 Kingdom of God. (John 3 :l-5.) 
 
 "Mormonism" proclaims something more 
 than a heaven and a hell, to one or the other of 
 which all spirits of men shall be assigned, per- 
 haps on the basis of a very narrow margin of 
 
Progression After Death. 123 
 
 merit or demerit. As it affirms the existence 
 of an infinite range of graded intelligences, so 
 it claims the widest and fullest gradation of con- 
 ditions of future existence. It holds that the 
 honest, though, perchance, mistaken soul who 
 lived or tried to live according to the light he 
 had received, shall be counted among the hon- 
 orable of the earth, and shall find opportunity, 
 if not here then in the hereafter, for compliance 
 with the requirements essential for salvation. It 
 teaches that repentance with all its attendant 
 blessings shall be possible beyond the grave ; but 
 that inasmuch as the change we call death does 
 not transform the character of the soul, repent- 
 ance there will be difficult for him who has ruth- 
 lessly and wilfully rejected the manifold oppor- 
 tunities afforded him for repentance here. It 
 asserts that even the heathen devotee who may 
 have bo\ved down to stocks and stones, if in so 
 doing he was obeying the highest law of wor- 
 ship which to his benighted soul had come, shall 
 have part in the first resurrection, and shall be 
 afforded the opportunity, which on earth he 
 had not found, of doing that which is required 
 of God's children for salvation. And for all 
 the dead who have been without the privileges, 
 
124 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 perhaps indeed without the knowledge, of com- 
 pliance with Christ's law, there shall be given 
 opportunity in the hereafter. 
 
 Nevertheless, this life of ours is no trifle, no 
 insignificant incident in the soul's eternal course, 
 having but small and temporal importance, the 
 omissions of which can be rectified with ease by 
 the individual beyond the veil. If compliance 
 with the divine law as exemplified by the re- 
 quirements of faith, repentance, baptism, and 
 the bestowal of the right to the ministrations of 
 the Holy Ghost, are essential to the salvation of 
 those few who just now are counted among the 
 living, such is not less necessary for those who 
 once were living but now are dead. Who are 
 the living of today but those who shortly shall 
 be added to the uncounted dead ? Who are the 
 dead but those who at some time have lived in 
 mortality? 
 
 Christ has been ordained to be judge of both 
 quick and dead; he is Lord of living and dead 
 as man uses these terms, for all live unto him. 
 How then shall the dead receive the blessings 
 and ordinances denied to them or by them neg- 
 lected while in the flesh? "Mormonism" an- 
 swers : By the vicarious work of the living in 
 
Vicarious Labor for the Dead. 125 
 
 their behalf! It was this great and privileged 
 labor to which the prophet Malachi referred in 
 his solemn declaration, that before the great and 
 dreadful day of the Lord, Elijah should be sent 
 with the commission to turn the hearts of the 
 fathers to the children and the hearts of the 
 children to the fathers. Elijah's visitation to 
 earth has been realized. On the 3rd of April, 
 in the year 1836, there appeared unto Joseph 
 Smith and Oliver Cowdery, in the temple erect- 
 ed by the Latter-day Saints at Kirtland, Ohio, 
 Elijah the prophet, who announced that the time 
 spoken of by Malachi had fully come ; then and 
 there he bestowed the authority, for this dispen- 
 sation, to inaugurate and carry on this labor in 
 behalf of the departed. 
 
 As to the fidelity with which the Latter-day 
 Saints have sought to discharge the duties thus 
 divinely required at their hands, let the temples 
 erected in poverty as in relative prosperity by 
 the blood and tears of the people testify. Two 
 of these great edifices were constructed by the 
 Latter-day Saints in the days of their tribula- 
 tion, in times of their direst persecution, one 
 at Kirtland, Ohio, the other at Nauvoo, Illinois. 
 The first is still standing, though no longer pos- 
 
126 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 sessed by the people who built it ; and no longer 
 employed for the furtherance of the purposes of 
 its erection ; the second fell a prey to flames en- 
 kindled by mobocratic hate. Four others have 
 been constructed in the vales of Utah, and are 
 today in service, dedicated to the blessing of the 
 living, and particularly to the vicarious labor of 
 the living in behalf of the dead. In them the 
 ordinances of baptism, and the laying on of 
 hands for the bestowal of the Holy Ghost, are 
 performed upon the living representatives of 
 the dead.* 
 
 But this labor for the dead is two-fold; it 
 comprises the proper performance of the re- 
 quired ordinances on earth, and the preaching 
 of the gospel to the departed. Shall we sup- 
 pose that all of God's good gifts to his children 
 are restricted to the narrow limits of mortal ex- 
 istence? We are told of the inauguration of 
 this great missionary labor in the spirit world, 
 
 *For a detailed treatment of Temples and Temple 
 labor among the Latter-day Saints, including a study 
 of the doctrine of vicarious labor for the dead, see 
 "The House of the Lord, a Study of Holy Sanctu- 
 aries Ancient and Modern," including forty-six plates 
 illustrative of modern Temples; by James E. Tal- 
 mage. Published by the Church: Salt Lake City, 
 Utah; 336 pp. 
 
Christ's Preaching Among the Dead. 127 
 
 as effected by the Christ himself. After his 
 resurrection, and immediately following the 
 period during which his body had lain in the 
 tomb guarded by the soldiery, he declared to the 
 sorrowing Magdalene that he had not at that 
 time ascended to his Father ; and, in the light of 
 his dying promise to the penitent malefactor 
 who suffered on a cross by his side, we learn 
 that he had been in paradise. Peter also tells us 
 of his labors that he was preaching to the 
 spirits in prison, to those who had been disobe- 
 dient in the days of Noah when the long-suffer- 
 ing of God waited while the ark was preparing. 
 If it was deemed necessary or just that the gos- 
 pel be carried to spirits that were disobedient or 
 neglectful in the days of Noah, are we justified 
 in concluding that others who have rejected or 
 neglected the word of God shall be left in a state 
 of perpetual condemnation ? 
 
 "Mormonism" claims that not only shall the 
 gospel be carried to the living, and be preached 
 to every creature, but that the great missionary 
 labor, the burden of which has been placed on 
 the Church, must of necessity be extended to the 
 realm of the dead. It declares unequivocally 
 that without compliance with the requirements 
 
128 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 established by Jesus Christ, no soul can be saved 
 from the fate of the condemned ; but that oppor- 
 tunity shall be given to every one in the season 
 of his fitness to receive it, be he heathen or civ- 
 ilized, living or dead. 
 
 The whole duty of man is to live and work 
 according to the highest laws of right made 
 known to him, to walk according to the best 
 light that has been shed about his path; and 
 while Justice shall deny to every soul that has 
 not rendered obedience to the law, entrance into 
 the kingdom of the blessed, Mercy shall claim 
 opportunity for all who have shown themselves 
 willing to receive the truth and obey its behests. 
 
 It will be seen, then, that "Mormonism" offers 
 no modified or conditional claims as to the ne- 
 cessity of compliance with the laws and ordi- 
 nances of the gospel by every responsible inhab- 
 itant of earth unto whom salvation shall come. 
 It distinguishes not between enlightened and 
 heathen nations, nor between men of high and 
 low intelligence; nor even between the living 
 and the dead. No human being who has at- 
 tained years of accountability in the flesh, may 
 hope for salvation in the kingdom of God until 
 
Toleration and Acceptance. 129 
 
 he has rendered obedience to the requirements 
 of Christ, the Redeemer of the world. 
 
 But while thus decisive, "Mormonism" is not 
 exclusive. It does not claim that all who have 
 failed to accept and obey the gospel of eternal 
 life shall be eternally and forever damned. 
 While boldly asserting that the Church of Jesus 
 Christ of Latter-day Saints is the sole reposi- 
 tory of the Holy Priesthood as now restored to 
 earth, it teaches and demands the fullest tolera- 
 tion for all individuals, and organizations of in- 
 dividuals, professing righteousness; and holds 
 that each shall be rewarded for the measure of 
 good he has wrought, to be adjudged in accord- 
 ance with the spiritual knowledge he has 
 gained. For such high claims combined with 
 such professions of tolerance, the Church has 
 been accused of inconsistency. Let it not be for- 
 gotten, however, that toleration is not accept- 
 ance. I may believe with the utmost fulness 
 of my soul's powers that I am right and my 
 neighbor is wrong concerning any proposition 
 or principle; but such conviction gives me no 
 semblance of right for interfering with his ex- 
 ercise of freedom. The only bounds to the lib- 
 erty of an individual are such as mark the lib- 
 
130 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 erty of another, or the rights of the community. 
 God himself treats as sacred, and therefore as 
 inviolable, the freedom of the human soul. 
 
 "Know this, that every soul is free 
 To choose his life and what he'll be ; 
 For this eternal truth is given, 
 That God will force no man to heaven. 
 
 "He'll call, persuade, direct aright, 
 Bless him with wisdom, love, and light ; 
 In nameless ways be good and kind, 
 But never force the human mind." 
 
 "Mormonism" contends that no man or na- 
 tion possesses the right to forcibly deprive even 
 the heathen of his right to worship his deity. 
 Though idolatry has been marked from the ear- 
 liest ages with the seal of divine disfavor, it 
 may represent in the unenlightened soul the sin- 
 cerest reverence of which the person is capable. 
 He should be taught better, but not compelled 
 to render worship which to him is false because 
 in violation of his conscience. 
 
 In further defense of the Latter-day Saints 
 against the charge of inconsistency for this their 
 tolerance toward others whom they verily be- 
 
Graded Conditions. 131 
 
 lieve to be wrong, let me again urge the car- 
 dinal principle that every man is accountable 
 for his acts, and shall be judged in the light of 
 the law as made known to him. 
 
 There is no claim of universal forgiveness; 
 no unwarranted glorification of Mercy to the 
 degrading or neglect of Justice ; no thought that 
 a single sin of omission or of commission shall 
 fail to leave its wound or scar. In the great 
 future there shall be found a place for every 
 soul, whatever his grade of spiritual intelligence 
 may be. "In my Father's house are many man- 
 sions," (John 14:2), declared the Savior to 
 his apostles ; and Paul adds, "There are also 
 celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but the 
 glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of 
 the terrestrial is another. There is one glory 
 of the sun and another glory of the moon and 
 another glory of the stars ; for one star differeth 
 from another star in glory. So also is the res- 
 urrection of the dead/; (I Cor. 15 :40-42). The 
 Latter-day Saints claim a revelation of the pres- 
 ent dispensation as supplementing the scripture 
 just quoted. From this later scripture, (see 
 Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 76), we learn 
 that there are three well-defined degrees in the 
 
132 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 future state, with numerous, perhaps number- 
 less, gradations. 
 
 There is the celestial state provided for those 
 who have lived the whole law, who have accept- 
 ed the testimony of the Christ, who have com- 
 plied with the required ordinances of the gospel, 
 who have been valiant in the cause of virtue and 
 truth. Then there is the terrestrial state, com- 
 parable to the first as is the moon to the sun. 
 This shall be given to the less valiant, to many 
 who are nevertheless among the worthy men of 
 the earth, but who perchance have been de- 
 ceived as to the gospel and its requirements. 
 The telestial state is for those who have failed 
 to live according to the light given them ; those 
 who have had to suffer the results of their sins ; 
 those who have been of Moses, of Paul, of 
 Apollos, and of any one of a multitude of 
 others, but not of the Christ. 
 
 We hold that there is a wide difference be- 
 tween salvation and exaltation; that there are 
 infinite gradations beyond the grave as there 
 are here, and as there were in the state preced- 
 ing this. 
 
 "Mormonism" is frequently spoken of as a 
 new religion, and the Church as a new church, 
 
The Gospel of Old. 133 
 
 a mere addition of one to the many sects that 
 have so long striven for recognition and ascend- 
 ency among men. It is new only as the spring- 
 time following the darkness and the cold of the 
 year's night is new. The Church is a new one 
 only as the ripening fruit is a new development 
 in the course of the tree's growth. In a gen- 
 eral and true sense, "Mormonism" is not new 
 to the world. It is founded on the gospel of 
 Christ which antedates this earth. The estab- 
 lishment of the Church in the present age was 
 but a restoration. True, the Church is pro- 
 gressive as it ever has been ; it is therefore pro- 
 ductive of more and greater things as the years 
 link themselves into the centuries ; but the living 
 seed contains within its husk all the possibilities 
 of the mature plant. 
 
 This so-called new, modern gospel is in fact 
 the old one, the first one, come again. It de- 
 mands the organization and the authority char- 
 acteristic of the Church in former days, when 
 there was a Church of God upon the earth; it 
 expects no more consideration, and scarcely 
 hopes for greater popularity, than were accord- 
 ed the primitive Church. Opposition, persecu- 
 tion, and martyrdom have been its portion, but 
 
134 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 these tribulations it accepts, knowing well that 
 to bear such has been the lot of the true Church 
 in every age. 
 
 "Mormonism" is more than a code of morals ; 
 it claims a higher rank than that of an organi- 
 zation of men planned and instituted by the 
 wisdom and philosophy of men, however 
 worthy. It draws a distinction between moral- 
 ity and religion; and affirms that human duty 
 is not comprised in a mere avoidance of sin. 
 It regards the strictest morality as an indispen- 
 sable feature of every religious system claiming 
 in any degree divine recognition; and yet it 
 looks upon morality as but the alphabet from 
 which the words and sentences of a truly relig- 
 ious life may be framed. However euphonious 
 the words, however eloquent the periods, to 
 make the writing of highest worth there must 
 be present the divine thought ; and this, man of 
 himself cannot conceive. 
 
 It affirms that there was a yesterday as there 
 is a today, and shall be a tomorrow, in the deal- 
 ings of God with men; that 
 
 Through the ages one increasing purpose runs ; 
 and that purpose, the working out of a divine 
 
Christ to Return to Earth. 135 
 
 plan, the ultimate object of which is the salva- 
 tion and exaltation of the human family. 
 
 The central feature of that plan was the 
 earthly ministry and redeeming sacrifice of the 
 Christ in the meridian of time ; the consumma- 
 tion shall be ushered in by the return of that 
 same Christ to earth as the Rewarder of right- 
 eousness, the Avenger of iniquity, and as the 
 world's Judge. 
 
 The Church holds that in the light of revela- 
 tion, ancient and modern, and by a fair inter- 
 pretation of the signs of the times, the second 
 coming of the Redeemer is near at hand. The 
 present is the final dispensation of the earth in 
 its present state ; these are the last days of which 
 the prophets in all ages have sung. 
 
 But of what use are theories and philosophies 
 of religion without practical application? Of 
 what avail is belief as a mere mental assent or 
 denial ? Let it develop into virile faith ; vitalize 
 it ; animate it ; then it becomes a moving power. 
 The Latter-day Saints point with some confi- 
 dence to what they have attempted and begun, 
 and to the little they have already done in the 
 line of their convictions, as proof of their sin- 
 cerity. 
 
136 The Philosophy of "Mormonism." 
 
 For the second coming of the Redeemer, 
 preparation is demanded of men ; and today, 
 instead of the single priest crying in the wilder- 
 ness of Judaea, there are thousands going forth 
 among the nations with a message as definite 
 and as important as that of the Baptist; and 
 their proclamation is a reiteration of the voice 
 in the desert "Repent Repent ! for the King- 
 dom of Heaven is at hand." 
 
 The philosophy of "Mormonism" rests on 
 the literal acceptance of a living, personal God, 
 and on the mire served compliance with his law 
 as from time to time revealed.